8
by Dixxy
Summary: Jump City was so unusually quiet lately... But things get completely out of hand on that rainy day ! What's wrong with the inhabitants ? Why do they act in so many crazy ways simultaneously ? One of Raven's ancient enemies (an OC) returns and takes over ! N'joy ! **** DEDICATED TO MY FAV'S : GOTHICA13, ZIANDRA, PHANTOM OF RUNES, RAVENANDBB4EVER, MISERYCRUSH and SPIFFYPUFFINS ****
1. Dawning

**8**

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**0 */*/ * ****DAWNING**

**Hey there everybody !**

**So this is not the first chapter of the story. It is an introduction in which I will tell ya about myself, my stories, my fav' Teen Titans characters, fav' TT episodes, fav' TT authors & stories, and finally a dedication. It's just a kind of introducing myself to ya all. Kind of logical, since I'm new on TT storywriting (I was on Monster Buster Club before).**

**Therefore, if ya just want the story and nothing else, all you have to do is send me to hell XD and click on the NEXT button. Ya won't miss anything, and I promise I won't hold a grudge against those who skip this chapter. *cross fingers in my back* ****But**** the following authors : GOTHICA13, ZIANDRA, PHANTOM OF RUNES, RAVENANDBB4EVER, MISERYCRUSH and SPIFFYPUFFINS should take time to read this, or at least the dedication section, coz there a lil' something for them all in that part… :D**

**And for those who are willing to stay and to sign this paper stating I didn't threaten to kill ya if ya didn't read all this ;) …well, make yourself comfy and let's start this thing.**

**I'll do all I can not to get boring (slap me if I do…;) !**

**ON ME**

**Name's Leonard, but my friends usually call me Leo. I'm 35 (yep, an "old fart", as ya teenagers like to call everyone over 30… XD) and live in Switzerland. And if you, like myself, are just hopeless in geography, you take Europa and target France (aaah, Paris… Paris… one of the most beautiful cities in the whole… yeah, anyway…). And Switzerland is immediately east from France. One of Europa's tiniest countries, known for its banks, watches, chocolate, cheese, mountains… come skiing someday ! :)))**

**I've ended on Fan Fiction after looking for some Monster Buster Club stories website. I had initially started with , but there were only few MBC stories. And then I discovered Fan Fiction… and my life changed forever ! :D**

**My favourite shows are MBC, TT, Phineas and Ferb and Totally Spies.**

**But enough of me. Moving on !**

**ON MY STORIES**

**I wrote 7 MBC stories, but ya'll only find 6 on my account coz the admins deleted the last one. Too violent, according to them. I have to agree : I really hesitated to put it on here… and short after I finally did, they removed it ! That'll teach me wisdom… :(((**

**The thing is, I love MBC but felt the need to do something else after all this time. I hate routine, monotony, it soon gets boring. That's also why I regularly change my alias. 8D So I decided I would write on Teen Titans, which has become my other favourite show with MBC.**

**I also have a Fictionpress account, going by the alias dixxy4 (4 being my fav' number). Not so at ease with poetry, though… :O**

**But enough of my stories. Moving on ! (doesn't that sound like deja-vu… ?)**

**ON MY FAVOURITE TT CHARACTERS**

**Well, the one I prefer is definitely Raven. I mean, come on, this girl has so many powers and abilities. She can do so much. Is so uses such great sarcasm. I have to love the latter, since I'm fond of irony (I love humor in general and use it as often as I can… and if I sound somewhat childish to ya, it's because my body hosts both an adult and a child… eh eh, what can I do, I just don't wanna renounce my innocence part…).**

**Rae really is fascinating. I never get enough of her amazing personality. And under her cold demeanor, she actually has tenderness and care hidden, courtesy of her human half.**

**She's just the best IMHO.**

**Short after comes Robin, the leader, who is such a great fighter and a clever one too.**

**And third would be Starfire, whose bubbly side and odd sentences turns just make me smile every now and then. She's too much and really funny !**

**But enough of my favourite characters. Moving on ! (broken record much ?)**

**ON MY FAVOURITE TT EPISODES**

**Well, in general, I prefer all those who star Rae as the main protagonist. And therefore is 4th season my favourite. No wonder why, eh ? Raven really is amazing in that one, in HER season.**

**And in Season 4, my fav' episodes are BIRTHMARK, THE PROPHECY and THE END. Again, that didn't surprise ya, eh ? ;)**

**And among all these, my preferred one is THE END, which I view more as one huge episode rather than 3 distinct episodes.**

**Last, if I had to choose one of the three parts from THE END, it would probably be the first part, which starts so funny and ends so dramatic. Therefore, THE END PART 1 may well be the episode I love most.**

**In one of my MBC stories, I even thanked all those (screenwriters, directors) involved in the "Raven Trilogy", as I call it : BIRTHMARK, THE PROPHECY, THE END, coz these guys really did a wonderful job.**

**But enough of my favourite episodes. Moving on ! (did someone cast an iterative spell on me or what ?!)**

**ON MY FAVOURITE TT AUTHORESSES**

**The TT writers whose work I enjoyed the most are as follow :**

**GOTHICA13 (all marvelous fictions, with a three thumbs up ;) to her story AND HER WHITE CLOAK FADED, which is, IMHO, a real masterpiece, especially on the psychological level… perhaps my fav' TT story up to now ! You guys should all read it !)**

**ZIANDRA (very nice stories with interesting characters, cool plots, and particular applause for her GLACIER fic')**

**PHANTOM OF RUNES (very sensitive, touching stories, such delicateness and emotion, and 2 dead entertaining stories where characters are acting slap-happy… grand bravo too !)**

**RAVENANDBB4EVER (her RAVEN'S CHANGE is an absolute gem, one of my top fav' just like the first story mentioned above ! I've been so enthralled by it !)**

**MISERYCRUSH (LOVE SUCKS is an amazing story, notably because it includes the Emoticlones and pairs Rae X Rob instead of the usual Rae X BB… I can't wait for the next update !)**

**SPIFFYPUFFINS (I'm enthusiastic about her very nice fic' THE PIECES OF MY HEART, and really hope she finishes it)**

**To these writers, I say : Respect and Thanks for their awesome work. You guys are just smashing, and you've been making my days with your excellent stories.**

**But enough of my favourite TT authors ! Moving on ! (I just can't believe it, I just can't…)**

**ON THIS STORY**

**Ok, last section, and after I promise I'll shut my big mouth and start with the actual plot. *don't cross fingers in my back***

**So this story is called "8", because of one of the main aspects of the plot, but it coincidentally happens to be my… 8****th**** story (my 6 stories plus the 7****th**** one which has been removed by the admins). Without surprise, our dark empath will be the main protagonist, but all the Titans will be fighting in there. I don't want to give too much away, but I can hint something here : it will be a two-level – or two-dimension, if ya prefer – fiction.**

**I hope nothing similar has been written yet, otherwise I'll be accused of plagiarism and booed, perhaps even sentenced to death. Hum, on 2****nd**** thought, scratch the last one : it could give twisted minds some naughty ideas… :P**

**But enough of this story… NO, WAIT ! That can't be : I didn't even start it ! XD**

***/*/*/* ****DEDICATION *****/*/*/***

**I wanna dedicate "8" to my favourite TT authors : GOTHICA13, ZIANDRA, PHANTOM OF RUNES, RAVENANDBB4EVER, SPIFFYPUFFINS and MISERYCRUSH. Because they deserve it. A lot.**

**Oh, and I also wave hello to my 3 biggest fans, Blood-of-Silver, BeachBabe123 and xsamiegirlx, who will likely read this new story too, although they also mainly write MBC stuff.**

**/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

**And that was it. **

**Time to get started. Hope ya guys will like the story, and that I won't get flamed : I mean, it's my first TT fiction, so please try to be merciful with a poor originally-MBC writer… ;P**

**And I also cross my fingers (in the good way this time… 8D) that I won't get any Writer's Block (WB) on this story. I haven't had any, in none of my fictions, so I hope that I won't start now with WB. Hum, let's be confident in Inspiration…**

**And now…N'joy !.!.!.!**

***************** Léo ******************


	2. Chaos

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**And here it starts for good !**

**Please be merciful with my grammar and my expressing, such as turns of phrases and such : I'm not a native English speaker like ya all, but a French-speaking one, so I do know my style can be a bit awkward sometimes and some choice of words "improvable". **

**But I spend so much time looking up for the most accurate glossary, both to be precise and to avoid repetitions… hopefully this can be noticed in the story ! =)**

**Anyway, hope ya all like it. Wish ya a nice reading, especially to my favourite TT authoresses to whom this story is dedicated (as I explained in the FOREWORD) and who are : GOTHICA13, ZIANDRA, PHANTOM OF RUNES, RAVENANDBB4EVER, MISERYCRUSH and SPIFFYPUFFINS (you girls all rock !) ! And also to my two greatest fans, Blood-of-Silver and BeachBabe123, who also write excellent stories !**

**N'joy ! **

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"**Chaos reigns." – taken from the film ANTICHRIST**

**8.1**** */*/*/* ****CHAOS**** */*/*/* ****8.1**

Eight.

Yes, eight.

Already eight hours that rain was bathing the street of the city. A downpour that was actually most welcome, given the really hot days that the area had been experiencing. No drought threat up to now, but particularly high temperatures, even for the season. Therefore, the deluge was seen as many as some atmospheric relief that would give them a break from the merciless waves of heat hitting the vicinity.

But while the weather was so hot, the same couldn't be said from the criminal activity of the town. It had indeed been really quiet in Jump City lately, and not even such things as robbery or pickpocket issues had been reported. It certainly was unusual that no thug-related situation was noted anywhere, and that the police therefore didn't have much to do these past days.

But the police weren't the only ones who had unexpectedly gained some rest lately. People hadn't seen a certain group of five superheroes around for quite a few weeks now. They all were secluded in their impressive T-shaped tower, on that islet set all lonely in the bay of the city, and came out only for the day-to-day regular business that they shared with normal folks, like shopping, a few leisure moments out and that kind of workaday activities that are common to everyone… even superheroes who had saved the world last year !

And in addition to the poor criminality rate, there also was now this abundant rain soaking up the city. Therefore twice as many reasons for the 5-members team known as the Teen Titans to remain locked in their recognizable T-shaped building, the huge picture window of the lounge providing a wide sight on the a major part of the town and helping them to detect any remote threat to human peace.

And right in this moment, a solitary figure was standing by said picture window, observing intently the skyscrapers opposite, the eyes narrowed in search of any extra-ordinary sign that could show up any minute, any second over there.

Yet there was nothing unusual to spot in any part of the urban panorama the person was looking at, and this made the observer sigh. It would definitely not be today that the group could come out of the tower for some mission.

Things were so calm.

So peaceful.

So… normal.

"Worried, Robin ?" briefly asked the half-human half-robot heavyset guy who had just appeared by the masked boy, concerned to see his friend stay that long all alone by the picture window.

The leader of the Titans turned his serious gaze towards the newcomer.

"Well… you know, Cyborg, it may sound paradoxical, and perhaps even a tad ridiculous to you, but this stillness, this serenity does actually preoccupy me. It makes no sense, I know, yet I can't help wondering why things are so quiet lately. You may say I'm paranoid, but it seems to me like… the calm before the storm. You know, nothing to do, and suddenly there comes a great threat, much greater than what we had to deal with lately. But maybe I'm just imagining things, and all that observation is simply vain, absurd."

"It is not. I feel the same way as you" said a monotonous voice by the boys' side.

They jolted at the sound and turned right to face the new "starer" by the window.

"Gee, Raven, you scared the hell out of us !" exclaimed the black guy. "I may be half-robot, but my human part still feels emotions, and your sudden talking made me jump. No offence intended, but please avoid silently coming up and suddenly speaking up. It's kind of scary."

The grey-skinned teenager gave him a dull look.

"No offence taken. I'm just like that, as you know. But I'll try to recall not to do so when you're nearby" she replied in the same emotionless tone.

"So you feel like I do ? You think it suspect as well, all that absence of criminality these past weeks ?" inquired the young acrobat.

"I do, yes" confirmed the dark empath. "I cannot sense anything evil within the area right now, but my intuition tells me that this won't last. And also, just like you said, that the forthcoming mission will prove much more difficult than the regular crimes we had to deal with the previous months. We have to stay alert, so I really don't blame you for spending all this time watching the city."

"What makes you look for so long out of the window, friends ?" asked a happy voice on the left.

The three others directed their attention at the fourth one, who had just stopped by Cyborg's side and was observing her friends with a candid smile.

"I don't know, Starfire…" confessed the caped hero. "I'm actually wondering why things have become so calm lately. We are not used to such quietness. It's the first time we remain so long inside the tower, save for the day-to-day stuff like shopping and the few entertainments we had in town. But we spend most of the time here, training, updating our records, watching films, playing games… it's not that I don't like it, as a break is always welcome, even for superheroes, but still… I feel some menace could be on the city anytime, and Raven feels just the same. We could be wrong, but our intuition often proved right in the past, so…"

"So nothing ! It's a rotten day, with all that rain, and on such a rotten day, there's just one thing to do : play Uno !" a cheery voice exclaimed on the extreme right of the hero group, just beside Raven.

Four pairs of eyes stopped on the green boy standing there, hands on his hips, almost in a defying attitude.

"Oh yes ! Beast Boy is right ! Let's play Uno ! Please ! We haven't in a long time, do you not agree ?" shrilled the Tamaranean.

"Hum… let me think… no." quickly replied the cloaked girl, giving the bubbly alien her usual dull look.

"Oh come on, Raven ! Don't be so creepy again !" protested the changeling.

The sorceress's eyes threw daggers at him as she frowned.

"Call me that just once more and you'll be sorry. Very very sorry."

Beast Boy opened his mouth to reply, but on seeing the menacing stare his dark friend was giving him, he thought it better to keep it shut. He therefore closed his jaw and made a pouting face.

Starfire guffawed while Robin and Cyborg smiled at the usual frictions between the most reserved Titan and one of the two most extravert ones (the other one being the Tamaranean). These two couldn't help quarreling regularly, perhaps not every single day but most of each passing week anyway.

"Well, on second thought…" declared Cyborg "…yeah, I guess that a few Uno games would be fun. After all, we haven't played this for… what ? … months now, and besides, we're stuck in here due to this downpour, and personally, I would do something else than watch a movie, for once. So I'm in !"

"Yeah ! Booyaaaah !" shouted the changeling.

"Hey ! That's _my_ line !" scolded the metal teenager.

"Hum… eh eh… yeah, sorry…" apologized the green boy, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Starfire was almost shining with enthusiasm.

"Oh great ! Really great ! It is so fantastic you are also taking part with us, friend ! I can only hope that Robin and Raven will decide the same as us !"

She clapped her hands, a bright grin lighting up her ingenuous face.

Robin looked at her, then back at the city, stretching out beyond the large bay, his smile fading to be replaced by a serious expression.

And finally back at her, after a few seconds.

And the smile returned on his lips.

"I guess there isn't much to do now. We've been updating and sorting all of our records these past weeks, training regularly, checking the surroundings all days. And anyway, should any suspect event take place, the supercomputer will launch an alarm immediately. So except leisure time, we have nothing much to do. And since I do agree with Cyborg about the films, that is we've been watching many of them at evenings lately, then I guess I'll agree to some games with you."

Starfire and Beast Boy both were radiating with utter joy. One by one, the team members joined them in the changeling's gaming proposal. How greater could it be ?

"YAY ! That's my boy ! I mean, my leader !" shouted the joker of the group.

"Thank you so much for accepting this happy moment together, Robin !" shrilled the red-haired girl.

"Booyaaah !" exclaimed Cyborg, quickly glancing at Beast Boy, who looked elsewhere and started whistling.

Then four pairs of eyes turned to the last member of the team, the most reluctant one when it came down to playing games.

Actually, it _could_ be greater than it already was…

"What ?" asked Raven in her monotone, as if nothing.

"You know WHAT, Rae !" Beast Boy almost reprimanded her.

"Oh please, friend Raven, please !" begged Starfire.

"That would be cooler if you joined us, Rae !" admitted Cyborg. Before correcting, after she had given him a look : "I mean, it would be… *cough* _more cool_ if you joined us…"

"I know you're not particularly fond of games, but the others and me would really appreciate if you made an effort tonight. We are never as much happy as when we are ALL together" advocated the Boy Wonder.

He hoped that this argument, added to the fact that they all required her presence, would make the scales tip in their favour, that she would give in eventually. But nothing was less sure with Raven, who usually had it her own way.

She looked left, then right, catching everyone's hopeful look, then sighed.

"Okay, okay, I'll say yes this time. But I won't be playing many games, so if you want to go on with it, I'll leave you to it after a certain time and continue reading my book on the sofa. There. Can we start now ?"

"Oh, thank you, Rae !" yelled BB as he hugged her, making her reply : "Quit it !"

"You have all my gratitude for accepting to play with us, Friend !" rejoiced Star.

Cyborg gave her a thumb up and Robin nodded, smiling, to show he appreciated her effort.

Seeing this, she gave her cold composure a hiatus and let a smile be sketched on her lips, as she looked back at the Boy Wonder.

They sat at the table while the tofu eater ran to his room, where he kept all the games (all the more logical, since he generally was the one insisting to play this or that game).

He was soon back and gave the cards to Robin, as he had shown much awkwardness at shuffling them. The masked hero mixed them up and dealt them to all, before putting the stack in the middle of the table, gathering his own cards and arranging them in his hands.

Surprisingly enough, it turned out that the one who won the most games was Raven, which made her teaser look at her with a grumpy face.

"And so, you didn't felt like playing, right ?" he asked her, his tone faking upset, while he was merely trying to annoy her a tad.

She gave him one of those neutral looks she knew the secret of.

"I didn't" she briefly confirmed.

"Well, see how wrong you were ?"

"Mmmmmmh…"

Cyborg couldn't help chiming in.

"Well, Green Bean's right : it would have been a pity if you had refused playing, considering your success at it. Only Robin and I could win one game each, all the rest was yours to win. Congrat's, Rae !"

She let another smile briefly wander over her grey lips.

"Thanks."

"Oh yes, you are absolutely an excellent player, Raven !" also congratulated the happy-go-lucky alien girl.

"Thanks as well." the sorceress replied to her meditation partner, smiling briefly again.

Robin was shuffling the cards once more and he too had his mouth arched up. One could tell he was pretty happy.

"You know, I'm glad we have this moment together. And I once more express my gratitude to you, Raven, for keeping to yourself and accepting to spend these moments with us all."

The dark empath smiled on, nodding.

"I guess I can't always avoid games and go on the sofa with my book. Or even in my room. I've been locking myself so often in the past that I had to correct this a bit and agree to a tad more leisure time with you all. So, if you are happy I'm here, then I'm pleased as well."

They all smiled at her and Robin took the first card in hand, ready to start dealing again.

And that's when it occurred !

The alarm of the supercomputer went off, making all heads turn to the machine.

Robin was the first to stand up and hurry to the keyboard. He rapidly typed something and, after a few seconds, an image appeared on the screen.

It showed cashiers of a supermarket who were sprawled at their cash desks and refused to serve the customers waiting for the cashing of their errands. The manager and the heads of the various departments were shouting at them, but none of them moved. The customers were yelling both at cashiers and at corporate, and some left without their shopping, waving their arms to imply they were going elsewhere, despite the manager and his team trying to retain them in the supermarket, trying to persuade them to still buy here.

"Gee, what's wrong with those dudes ? Why do they all refuse to work ?" asked Beast Boy, to no one in particular.

"Yes, and why do they do it all at the same time ?" pertinently questioned Cyborg.

Many customers were now leaving, the corporates helpless in trying to convince them to stay while alternatively shaking employees to induce them to resume work.

"Hum… I'm not sure this really concerns us…" stated Robin. "These employees could refuse to work as a way of protesting against their work conditions. It could be some sort of strike agreed between all of them. It is not part of our superheroes duties to intervene in a chaotic situation related to the inner organization of an enterprise. As long as no bad guy is involved, we are not supposed to intervene."

That made sense. There had to be a criminal behind a deed for the Teen Titans to step in. But if a row broke out between people of the same company, even if it yielded chaos to some extent, it was the police to take action, not the Titans. The latter got on the move _only_ when some bad guys were creating the fuss. And this wasn't the case here.

"We leave it to the police, then ?" Raven asked her leader.

"Yes" he replied. "They are the one to handle normal issues, that is issues not induced by criminals. If things get out of hand and there is extreme violence or even murder, then it becomes a criminal matter and we can go. This is what has been decided with the police authorities, and we are supposed to respect this agreement."

The Boy Wonder typed something else and the image vanished, bringing the screen back to normal.

"So we can go back to Uno playing, can we not ?" hesitantly questioned Starfire.

"Seems we can, yeah !" answered Cyborg.

They sat back at the table and took their cards back in hand, ready to resume the game…

…when a second alarm went off !

"What ? Again ?" exclaimed the changeling.

"Seems so…" replied the half-robot.

"Our "holiday" is about to be over…" trailed the sorceress.

"Oh, that is a pity ! But it will be good to be back to the business, yes ?" said the red-haired alien.

"Definitely !" confirmed Robin, and he hurried to the keyboard.

The image they got wasn't very reassuring neither.

There were young people dressed in elegant clothes who were verbally quarreling with other teenagers wearing leather jackets. But it weren't the latter who were provoking them, as one would have expected : it were those wearing expensive clothes who were visibly behaving in a very scornful manner to the others. And there started to be gesticulation and voice raise, which implied that things were slowly but surely getting out of control.

"It's some tense moment between two groups of different social classes" explained Robin.

"So we're not supposed to intervene either, since no criminal issue is involved and no super villain is behind this…" half-remarked half-asked the cloaked teenager.

"Exactly !" confirmed the leader. "I know it may sound unfair to some of you, but that's really how we settled it with the police and the mayor : no intervention of the Titans as long as no bad guy is committing a crime… or regular citizens being urged to commit one. For this instance here, same goes as for the supermarket problem : the police will take care of it if need be."

"Which means it's the second false alarm of the evening…" deduced Cy.

"And that we can go back to our cards !" concluded BB.

They walked back to their table and were about to sit… when a third alarm rang !

"No ! Not again !" screamed an upset morpher.

"But what is happening tonight ?" asked the Tamaranean.

"Not a clue !" shrugged the African-American.

The computer revealed images that were now more worrying.

A group of people had invaded a bread and cake a shop and were taking by force all kinds of cakes, pies, tarts and other sweets. They soon ran away with them, but another group broke in and did the same. The bakers tried to stop them, but the thugs were too numerous. Soon, most of the bakery was stolen away by these strange robbers.

"Are these some hungry people stealing food because they need to eat ?" questioned the ingenuous alien.

"They looked dressed normally, like middle-class persons. I doubt these were homeless people, tramps or such" stated Raven. "But if they are from the middle class, why would they steal food when they can buy it ? And why would they be so numerous to act that way ? There is no economic crisis going on, last time I checked…"

The young acrobat was frowning under his mask.

"You're right, Raven. These guys looked like normal people, like you and me, not bums or so. Not the kind to go steal food in groups."

The green member was getting impatient : he couldn't play Uno any longer, but could not go do his job. He was caught in between two activities neither of which he could carry on successfully.

And this annoyed him a lot.

"So, do we go kick their butts or not, this time ? Looks like crime to me…"

They turned to look at him and, after a few seconds, he received support from his best friend on the team.

"Well, Beast Boy is not wrong : we're talking about theft here !" pointed out Cy.

No one added anything.

The Boy Wonder walked to the table, turned around and rested against the piece of furniture.

"Well, technically it is, yes ! Although we're generally taking action when it's about _money_ theft… but yes, we could indeed get moving on that one ! Still, there's something that troubles me right now…"

His masked eyes looked for the violet ones of the mind-reading member of the team.

"I know what you mean" confirmed Raven. "You're wondering how come these three events are taking place simultaneously when everything seemed so peaceful. Why things all of a sudden get that hectic. And I think alike : it's really strange so much happens at the same time. Part of the citizens are behaving in a most unusual way. Now, could there be –"

But she got cut off by… a new alarm !

"Oh Man, this gotta be a joke or a bad dream ! I can't believe it !" incredulously said the tech guy.

They got back to the supercomputer and Robin summoned the new images.

It showed employees of a bank who were mauling other people in suits and ties. The latter were actually some managers, which meant that employees were physically rebelling against their superiors. And from the gestures shown on the screen, the subordinates pointing to the suits of the managers and rubbing their thumbs and forefingers together, it seemed that the first ones reproached the second ones that they didn't earn enough while the others were dressed in expensive clothes and made a lot of money.

"Another social classes riot…" remarked Raven. "But this time, it's the lower social class to mug the higher one. This, together with the bakery robbery and the supermarket "strike", hints to some eco-political issue. But nothing in recent news let foresee such chaos. There hadn't been any mention of growing tensions or such, of any economic problems. And this is all taking place simultaneously. I sense some threat behind it."

Robin was staring intently at her.

"Can you actually focus your powers on the origin of the threat, to try and unmask who or what is causing all these troubles ?"

She shook her head in his direction.

"Alas no. It's not something defined, but rather a vague menace feeling. But while it is only an impression, I recall often being right with my intuitions and my sensing things."

"So, what do we do now ?" pertinently asked Beast Boy. "We have four problems here and -"

They were still in front of the keyboard when the next alarm went off.

"You gotta be kidding me !" added the changeling.

"But why are things so terrible today ? Why all these problems right now ?" wondered Starfire.

"That's the right question to ask…and to answer !" admitted Cyborg.

This time, it were tramps in a mall : they were getting rid of their dirty clothes to try new clothes on, taking watches to put them at their wrists and see how they looked, putting fur coats over their usual clothes, opening perfume boxes and spraying some perfume everywhere on their faces, necks, chests, trying to use expository computers and change TV channels at the TV department, eating all kinds of food in the mini-market…

"Guys, what's happening to this city exactly ?" questioned the heftiest Titan.

"It seems that the people have become crazy…" declared the bubbliest one.

"What the heck is wrong with all these Dudes ?" asked the most teasing one.

The other two remained silent, until Raven turned her head away from the screen and, looking at Robin, noticed that he was already observing her.

"There definitely is something wrong tonight in Jump City. I can't determine the origins of these various problems, but my intuition tells me there could be a common factor to all. Maybe a common initiator, a common trigger. Sorry I can't sense more at the moment, but perhaps my powers will get a more precise reading later" she explained as she stared back.

He nodded.

"It's okay, Raven. I'm not blaming you anyway for not being able to feel the cause of this mess. It could be that something or someone is preventing you from sensing the roots of all these issues. I hope we can find out later on. But for now, we should hurry downtown !"

They were about to leave when the supercomputer notified another problem.

"But how many alarms will there be tonight ?!" complained the green boy.

"Yeah, it hasn't been stopping for the past 15 minutes… What's the matter with our town today ?!" uttered a baffled Cyborg.

The new trouble was even more serious : people breaking everything in a pretty crowded neighbourhood of the city. They demolished as much as they could, letting out loud rage screams each time. And their yells sounded almost more like animal roars than actual human shouts…

"Oh my God, why do they do this ? They are going to ruin our beautiful town !" Starfire said in a sad voice.

"Things are getting worse and worse !" noted the cloaked Titan. "We must hurry up if we want Jump City to be still standing tomorrow morning. But we will have to split if we intend to swiftly take care of all these different problems. Or at least liaise with the police to check what they could already take care of or what they are going to handle, so that we know what _**we**_ can be on, to avoid interfering with them."

"You're right, Raven !" admitted the acrobat. "I'll contact the police once we are downtown. But for the moment, we must do as quick as we can. Let's go !"

They started for the door when the umpteenth alarm of the evening echoed in the room.

"Gee, this is crazy ! Each time we are about to move away from here, another alarm !" exclaimed BB.

"This is the last one we'll check !" promised Robin. "If there's another one going off while we leave, we'll just go and I'll download the new elements through our communicators, thanks to the new downloading function installed last month."

Things couldn't get worse. Or actually, they could, but the mere thought of it…

In the most distant part of the city, numerous men were molesting women after beating up their companions, husbands or male relatives. They tore the female clothes and began abusing the women, who were screaming horribly. It was the most dreadful sight ever, and even Starfire, the everso optimistic Starfire felt sick to her stomach when she saw that.

"How… how dare they ?! They are not humans anymore : they are like animals right now !" she yelled, her voice trembling with anger.

Raven apparently didn't show any outer emotion, but she actually expressed her inner wrath by clenching both her fists tightly.

_Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Don't let anger overwhelm you, no matter how mad you are at these men doing this to women ! Don't allow Rage to take control : it's certainly no time for this, with all the mess happening ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !_

"Bastards !" shouted the morpher.

"Exactly so !" growled Cy.

"The situation is getting completely out of control !" screamed Robin. "No time to lose ! TITANS, GO !"

And that's when the supercomputer and all lights within the tower went out…

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**And there it was for this first chapter !**

**Hope ya enjoyed this "setting the scene" !**

**Oh, and yeah, it ends with a cliffhanger ! I just LOVE "cliffies", as they are called ! And I often put some in my stories ! Some fans like them, and some other… less ! XD **

**Isn't it, Ana ? ;)**

**Now, what's the matter with Jump City's inhabitants ? **

**Why are they acting that mad, that violent ?**

**Who or what is behind all this ?**

**And why can't Raven find out the exact identity of the one pulling the strings in the dark ?**

**All this, you'll find out partly in chapter 2, partly in chapter 3 (respectively chapter 3 and 4 in the drop-down chapter menu, because of the FOREWORD being considered chapter 1 … too bad those drop-down chapter menus can't have a "0" chapter ! ;) )**

**I would like to let my spirit wander up to Boston and pour out my warmest sympathy over the heads of all casualties of the Marathon Bombing. I may have been criticizing Americans about a few things, back in the past, but I've nevertheless always got along pretty good with them, and most of my virtual friends, on Fan Fiction and You Tube, are from the USA. Therefore, I grieve with you all, victims of this horrible attack, and hope those of you who have been most seriously injured will survive. A particular emotional vibe of comfort is sent to the family of the poor 8-years-old kid who left his family on this fateful day. And may the ones who did this burn in hell forever ! Bastards !**

**I thank any of ya who took time to read and/or review my story, and truly hope you will enjoy the plot and read on. And that you will regularly review too, as some former reviewers of mine had that bad habit of reviewing ONLY one chapter of a story, although they later confessed having read the full story… a "comment lack" which I really didn't appreciate ! An author needs reviews to feel supported and have the will to continue !**

**And I wish all of ya good luck with their own stories, several of which are pure gems ! :D**

**To all of ya, I send my kindest waves of friendship ! God bless ya !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**

**(Humpty Dumpty)**


	3. Mastermind

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**This time, I'll start wz sending my most sympathetic vibes to all the casualties (and their families) of the city of West (TX), where took place that fertilizer plant explosion. This is another hard blow on USA's head, and this right after Boston… So, you poor victims of West, please receive my kindest thoughts ! I hope that all those seriously injured right now will get better and live !**

**Hopefully things will calm down a tad… That's the best I hope, really !**

**Now, regarding this story here…**

**I was pretty pleased to see already three people on it on the first day of publishing (last Monday)… but was also disappointed to have no more feedback the full week. Bah, I will just "lay the blame" on the endless publishing/update of the TT fictions, which drowns my first fic' into a sea of stories, while MBC had far less stories uploads/updates and this therefore made people focus more on my stuff. So, just as I guessed, it will be more difficult for me with TT than it was wz MBC. Fair enough though. ;)**

**Anyway, nevermind. Here's thanking those who read my first chapter and enjoyed it, special thanking xsammiegirlx for her very kind and encouraging reviews, and extra special thanking Style 1234, who not only was the first to review but went as far as making it all : favoriting AND following BOTH the story and the author ! Thanxxxx loads, Man ! Would ya just have also posted a review, it would have been per-fect ! =)**

**Okay, so we'll go on wz this fiction, hoping things will move a bit. Fingers X.**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

"**Never concede to evil…. When we concede to evil, even in a small way, we feed it, and it grows stronger." – Dave Wolverton**

**8.2**** */*/*/* ****MASTERMIND**** */*/*/* ****8.2**

"But what the heck…?" started the robotic Titan.

"What's with the lights ?" wondered the green one.

They looked around them and could easily notice that all lights had died down. They were in complete darkness now. Not even a single standby signal lamp.

"There is some power outage in Jump City ?" asked Star.

"No, there isn't" replied Rae. "All lights are still on in town. It therefore means that only our tower is affected."

They all looked to where the goth pointed : and sure enough, through the large picture window, all buildings opposite still had their lights on.

"But why only our tower ?" questioned Cy.

The masked Titan narrowed his eyes.

"It could be related to the trouble downtown" he spoke up. "If things are that hectic and people are behaving that wild, I wouldn't be surprised if someone had found out a way to cut power in our tower only. I just don't get _how_ they did it exactly…"

"What are they trying to do with that power cut ?" wondered the bubbly alien.

"Maybe trying to prevent us from locating the places where trouble is going on, by shutting down our supercomputer…" suggested the half-demon. "They could have figured out that we can't track down trouble without our technology, and thus provoked this incident to bypass us and avoid our intervention."

Robin nodded.

"Yes, that's what I basically thought."

"Well, too bad for these morons, coz they're messing with the wrong guys : the Teen Titans are not that easily countered, and we're gonna so kick their butts in a while !" yelled BB.

"So we should be going to the city now, yes ?" Star wondered.

"Yep, definitely ! We'll show these troublemakers we're still here, no matter what they do to prevent our action !" exclaimed Cy.

Just when this was uttered, the lights came back, but a tad less bright than before.

"Dude, how come it's working again ?" said the changeling.

"Someone has forgotten about the generators, it seems…" Raven whispered sardonically.

The green Titan crossed his arms and glared at her.

She smirked at him.

"Right, I'll just restart the supercomputer and then we-"

But Robin was cut short by all lights unexpectedly going out simultaneously.

"Is it normal that we lose the lights again ?" questioned Starfire.

The masked Titan and the African-American exchanged looks.

"Absolutely not !" replied the second one. "The generators are not supposed to fail us. At least I've never ever heard of such an issue. And I honestly can't get what caused it now."

Raven seemed absorbed in her thoughts, but she finally snapped out of it.

"So you're saying that it is not possible to mess with generators like happened before with standard lighting ?" she phrased, staring at her robotic friend.

He shook his head.

"I can't see how. The generators are in our tower. So the only way it could occur was if someone had sneaked inside the tower. That could explain about the first power cut. But be sure that, should an intruder have sneaked inside of our building, the related alarm would have gone off immediately. Which wasn't the case."

"So if nobody could access the generators without us knowing, but we still were deprived of light again… it means that it could be some other cause ?" said Rob, aiming his look at Rae.

She closed her eyes and focused her powers, trying to detect any threat.

After a moment of concentration, she reopened her eyes and took a look around before stopping on her leader.

"I'm sorry, I can't detect any bad vibrations" she explained. "But that doesn't mean that there is no dark presence behind this. Some enemies have such great powers that they can hide their presence from any other person. Even from someone with sensitive powers like me. It could be a possibility here. But we should first take care of the population, before we try to find out who provoked all these dysfunctions, both in town and in our tower."

"That's right ! No time to lose ! Let's set out !" commanded the Boy Wonder.

They now needed to leave, but couldn't open the door because of the power cut. Still, the superheroes had plenty of resources to force a door to open.

The first possibility was to require the help of the team's tech.

"Alright, Cyborg, can you open the door with your integrated emergency monitor ?" asked the leader.

"I'm on it !" confirmed the one concerned.

He opened the small box containing the commands of the common room and plugged in his own connecting device. Then he typed something on the mini-computer set on his arm and…

"Here we go !" he stated as the two metal doors slowly parted, revealing the pitch-black hallway leading to the rooms and the training premises.

"Good ! Now we will have to do the same with the elevator. You can close back the command panel, then we're off !" instructed The Boy Wonder.

Cyborg finished his business, closed said panel and turned towards his friends.

"Booyaah ! And now, here's time for real act-"

But before he could complete his utterance, something bizarre and scary took place.

The automatic doors, that the tech had just opened up, closed extremely rapidly, making the metal halves bang together loudly.

It was a real luck that none of them was already engaged through the doorway, otherwise there would have been one or more team members injured.

"But what...?" began the African-American, not believing what his eyes just showed him.

He really didn't understand what had just taken place.

"Getting somewhat rusty with some manipulations, Buddy ?" Beast Boy teased him.

The half-robot shook his head.

"Not a chance in hell, Man ! I know what I do, and I know when it has to work. And this definitely had to work ! There's no reason for a malfunction here !"

The Tamaranean laid her hands on his huge shoulder.

"I am sorry that what you had managed to do came undone, Friend Cyborg ! Perhaps there is an insect in the system ?"

"It's called a bug, Star, not an insect, although both words are synonyms" retorted the strong Titan. "And there is a bug only when the system is working. And now, it's down."

Robin took his chin between his fingers, pondering all this. Then he faced his dark friend.

"Maybe you were right, Raven. Maybe there is some powerful enemy behind all this. And he can control our technology, as well as people's mind."

She narrowed her eyes.

"If this is so, this next mission will indeed prove much tougher than the previous ones. See, we can't even leave our own tower to go help people. But this isn't over _yet_ ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !"

Her eyes suddenly became white, shining intensely.

Black energy covered the automatic doors, then the empath made a parting gesture and the doors were pulled open by force. Finally, Raven pushed her hands farther to the side and both parts got built in inside the wall, blocked for good.

The sorceress's eyes turned back to normal.

"Thanks, Rae." Robin acknowledged the half-demon."Now, Titans, move !"

Beast Boy rushed first through the doorway… but crashed against something and collapsed to the floor !

"Jeez, what the heck happened ?" shrieked BB. "I tried to run into the hallway and… I felt like I was bumping against a wall ! But there's nothing there ! Absolutely nothing !"

All Titans were staring intensely at the hallway, and sure enough, there was no obstacle in front of them. Nowhere.

"Wait !" ordered the purple-haired teenager.

She approached the place where the doors banged when closing and held out her arm.

And it confirmed what she had suspected : her hand had met with a solid part, although nothing was visible.

"There is an invisible obstacle, isn't there, Rae ?"

The cloaked one looked at the masked speaker and nodded.

"Dark magic" she briefly indicated.

The others couldn't utter a word for a moment, trying to figure out why dark magic was blocking their way in their own headquarters, who could be doing that, where was that mysterious enemy and so on.

"So we are… stuck inside the tower ?" hesitantly questioned Satrfire.

"I will try to break that invisible barrier, but it is not certain I will be able to make it : some dark wizards are very powerful and most difficult to defeat. It is therefore not guaranteed that my powers will outdo the dark ones at work here."

The grey girl stretched both hands in direction of the hallway and focused her energy.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !"

Large black whirlpools emerged from both palms and hit some invisible obstacle standing in the doorway.

_It's very powerful ! I have to increase my magic ! But will this be enough ?_

"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"

Black giant orbs were shot from her hands and hit the barrier. But the latter held on.

Raven made another attempt, even more powerful, but she soon realized there was nothing to do about that magical phenomenon. So she ceased her action and turned towards her teammates, shaking her head.

"You can't break it ?!" said an astonished Beast Boy. "You ?! The most powerful Titan ?!"

"I may be the most powerful, as you say, but I cannot defeat ALL our foes. Some are mightier than me, and either I can't win, or I can but have to find the Achilles' heel of the enemy. And that's easier said than done, even for a sorceress…" she calmly replied.

"Achilles' heel ?" Star repeated, surprised.

"It means the weak point of someone" Raven explained. "Most fighters have a weak point, and we call it Achilles' heel. And the thing is that you can't possibly beat some opponents unless you discover what their weak point is. So, if we are to battle a very powerful enemy, one using magic, we will have to do all we can to find his secret weakness, so we can enfeeble him and get the upper hand. It won't be easy, though, because some beings have a high defensive level, like dark wizards. And I suspect a dark wizard to be the puppet master behind it all…"

"What about we try another way ?" suggested the morpher. "Maybe you can teleport us downtown ?"

She shrugged.

"Yes, I can try, but I wouldn't be surprised if our foe had already neutralized my teleporting powers to prevent us from leaving the tower. He must have sensed I have that ability and set up a counter-power so that I can't use teleportation for us all. Let's see."

The young Azarathian invoked a portal, but no sooner was he opened that it immediately closed. A second attempt yielded no better result.

"You see ?" sighed Rae. "That mysterious force is stronger than me. Therefore, we are stuck inside of here and can't do anything. We have to wait until the enemy contacts us. And when we fight him, we'll do our utmost to figure out how to destroy him and release the invisible prison in here. I just hope our foe will show up soon, because our city badly needs us…"

As if on cue, the screen of the supercomputer turned on but showed only static.

"Is it normal that the computer has switched on all by itself ?" asked the alien girl.

Rob's eyes narrowed as he stared intensely at the large screen.

"Absolutely not, Star ! First, a computer doesn't "auto-switch on" and second… if there is a power outage affecting the whole building, there's no way one piece of electric or electronic equipment could function ! Therefore, as things appear, this machine is going against logic : it just _cannot_ get switched on in absence of electricity !"

He looked straight to Raven, and she instantly knew what he meant. But before he could actually go on and expose the implied matter they both were thinking about, Cyborg spoke up and expressed it aloud for them, thus showing he got it all as well.

"Therefore, if the supercomputer can't switch on by itself, and all the more during a power outage affecting the **totality** of our tower, then it means that…"

Cy took a brief glance at both the acrobat and the sorceress.

"…that there was some _**will**_ behind it ! That someone has such powers that it can cause inert matter to get to function, even when the context should prevent it. And who better than a magician or a wizard can do that ? You were definitely right about dark magic, Rae ! And whoever did this probably is the one who induced population to start acting that crazy, that violently !"

"So how do we find the bad guy ?" pertinently asked BB.

Again, Raven caught Robin's eye.

And again, they understood each other without uttering a word or using telepathy.

"I think there's not much to do to find him… because I'm persuaded that whoever is doing this will find us himself, and not the other way round" explained the empath. "Actually, although I still can't sense him, I wouldn't be surprised if he was watching us right now…"

And as she ended her sentence, she let her purple orbs wander up to the giant screen filled with static and narrowed her eyes at it.

The leader caught her drift and imitated her, his sharp look resting on the large screen which had enigmatically switched itself on in absence of any electricity…

"Show yourself !" shouted the leader in a cold, domineering tone.

Nobody moved.

Nobody added anything.

All of them were now observing the static-filled surface.

They wondered whether the one who had switched it on with his mysterious powers would show himself on there, or if the screen would merely remain blank, possibly even getting switched off again.

No movement.

No noise.

No change.

Just the faint sizzling sound of the static, discreetly troubling the heavy silence in the moonlit room.

Robin began to think that perhaps Raven may have been wrong, when she had turned her gaze towards the supercomputer screen, and that the villain was not spying them through it, hidden behind the static, and he was about to open his mouth to suggest that she maybe had had the wrong intuition, when suddenly…

"AH AH AH AH AH !"

It was a very frightening laughter, echoing through the dark room. It wasn't evident to know where the laughter originated from since it reverberated in the place and didn't seem to come from any precise spot in there. This made it seem as if that scary laughter was actually generated by the _room_ itself, as if the place had become alive all of a sudden.

The Titans looked around them with hasty head motions this way and that way, turning around, then turning back again, trying to determine the place of origin of the loud noise. But naturally in vain.

Actually, four Titans did that, but the fifth one didn't even move and kept her narrowed eyes stuck to the screen.

_I'm sure you are in there, whoever you are. I may not be able to sense your presence right now, but my intuition tells me you're concealed behind that static, which you use as a way of hiding yourself from us… as a smoke screen. Show yourself, if you've got courage left !_

"Where… where is that guy ?" screamed a freaked out Beast Boy.

"Is he hiding in the kitchen, maybe ?" suggested Starfire, as she wasn't able to make out any newcomer in their common room.

"Don't think so…" Cyborg put in doubt. "I have an inkling that he's in this room, with us, right now. Maybe invisible to us thanks to some device of his invention… or thanks to his powers !"

And as he finished uttering the last part, he directed his eyes at his dark friend.

She hadn't moved, not even the slightest change in her position, her acute gaze still set firmly on the enigmatic screen displaying its static after unexpectedly being switched on despite the power cut.

The Boy Wonder was staring at her with intensity, his 6th sense whispering his brain that the most perceptive member of their team may well have caught some extrasensory element hinting to the presence of their enemy inside this mysterious static.

"Raven…have you localized the one who just laughed ? Where is he ?"

Without even looking at him, she moved to face the supercomputer screen, her frown accentuating, her loose hands curling up into fists, and simply replied : "Here !"

Robin and the rest of the team followed her gaze and settled on the screen.

And it occurred.

The static slowly faded away, showing the black rectangle of a switched off screen **(A/N : told ya my grammatical formulation sometimes leaves a bit to be desired… so much for being a non-native English speaker…;)**.

But soon the outlines of something else appeared on the dark surface.

It looked like a gigantic ball, around which was a circle.

The object emerged gradually on the screen, gaining substance as well as colour.

It lasted maybe forty seconds till the elements displayed up there were fully neat, fully formed, fully coloured.

And when it stopped, it showed a huge green ball and a green halo around it, both separated by the black halo of the screen, in the background.

Inside the ball were scattered tiny reverse spearheads, and they either were black or consisted actually of spearhead-shaped holes, the black colour belonging to the background of the black screen. **(A/N : don't get it ? Ask the non-native-English-speaking author ! XD)**

The Titans seemed hypnotized by the strange design they were staring at. None of them had ever seen such a thing…

Well, none of them… except, once again, a certain sorceress !

She knew.

And because she did, she opened her mouth and pronounced one single word : "Fraktal".

Robin looked at her when he heard this, and the others soon imitated him.

They now all had turned their attention away from the screen and observed the cloaked figure whose face was the only one to show anger, or at least enmity, while the rest of them all had surprise and a bit of anxiety on their features.

"Fraktal ?" questioned the acrobat.

She finally broke her posture's stillness and allowed her purple globes to leave at last the screen, on which they had remained stuck obsessively for minutes, to meet with the masked look of her leader.

"Fraktal is the name of a dark wizard, one of the most powerful in the caste of wizards. He was the one who laughed previously and what you see on the screen is his eye."

There was a silence, for them to absorb those bits of info.

"That… that's an eye ?" finally reacted her green teammate, pointing at the green ball and circle.

"It is. And he has got only one eye, like Cyclops" she informed.

"Cyclops ?" asked a confused Starfire.

"It was a one-eyed giant, in the Greek mythology" the goth further explained.

But Robin was concerned with more important stuff.

"Who is this Fraktal ? And how do you know him ?" he asked her.

She locked her purple eyes with his masked ones, her expression most serious now. It was time for them to know who they would have to fight. And that fight would be everything but easy.

"I already faced him twice, the first time as he tried to take over Azarath, the second time when he fought Azar, my mentor. Both times, I have been the one defeating him. I wasn't as powerful as I am now, of course, and neither was he. Back then, I could sense his presence, while I couldn't today, which indicates he gained new powers or developed those he already had. He is motivated only by one thing : enslaving others and making them suffer. He draws pleasure from others' pains, depressions, breakdowns, sadness, unhappiness. He is a sadistic being who finds his own contentment in creating chaos and seeing it consume all living beings, be they aliens, humans, animals… no matter where the suffering comes from, as long as there is suffering ! He feeds on it, he is addicted to it ! Fraktal is one of the worst beings I've ever met, one of the most contemptible, most despicable ones ! I hate him as much as I hated… Trigon."

She uttered that name with obvious disgust, visibly loathing the memory of the intimate bond she unwillingly shared with the red demon… a link she would have liked to destroy, to cancel, but that she never would be able to, no matter how much she detested it.

"THANKS FOR THE NICE COMPLIMENT, RAVEN ! AND NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN ! BUT SORRY TO HEAR YOU STILL HATE YOU FATHER THAT MUCH…"

The loud menacing voice echoed powerfully in the room.

The dark Titan gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

"Silence, Fraktal ! And tell us what you want from us instead !"

"OH, DID I ANGER YOU, RAVEN ? REALLY ? BUT YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T DENY YOUR DEMONIC LEGACY : HE WAS YOUR FATHER AFTER ALL AND-"

"_**I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR BLOODY MOUTH, FRAKTAL !"**_

Raven was now considering the enormous green eye on the screen with so much wrath in her eyes, her fists clenched so tight that the joints had turned lighter under the pressure.

Her teammates had never seen her this fuming. Angry, yes, but livid… not that they recalled.

And Raven cursing ? That also was absolutely unusual. The influence of Rage, now perceptible in her harsh snapping at the enemy, made her act unlike herself.

But nobody, not even Robin, dared to utter any single word. For in her actual condition, it would be no good talking to her and trying to comfort her. She was so furious in this moment, almost raging mad, that one could have got lashed out at, even upon simply trying to show sympathy to her.

"SOMEONE'S DEAD ANGRY RIGHT NOW, EH ? HOW PITIFUL ! I THOUGHT YOU HAD IMPROVED A BIT IN MONITORING YOUR EMOTIONS, RAVEN ! I'M REALLY DISAPPOINTED…"

His voice sounded as mockery, as it seemed he sneered as he spoke.

"Fraktal…" the sorceress began, her voice trembling with utter fury.

But then she stopped and closed her eyes.

_He is absolutely despicable, __**but**__ he is right : I should be mastering my emotions better ! I have been improving at it, but here comes this piece of crap and he just finds the hurtful words to make me lose my temper. He knows what to say to anger me. But I mustn't listen to him ! I mustn't give way to the loud voice of wrath ! I won't listen to you, Rage ! No matter how much you growl in my depths, I will not ! Azarath, metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !_

"AH AH AH ! BRAVE RAVEN ! YOU ALWAYS USED TO BE SO COURAGEOUS ! YOU SELDOM EXPERIENCE FEAR, AND THAT I ADMIRE ABOUT YOU ! AND YOU'RE AN EXCELLENT ADVERSARY WITH GREAT MIGHT ! BUT ALAS, THAT WON'T BE ENOUGH THIS TIME ! YOU'VE DEFEATED ME TWICE, BUT AS THEY SAY, THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM ! I'M GONNA GET RID OF YOU FOR GOOD, AND YOUR TITAN FRIENDS AS WELL !"

Robin felt anger boil inside of him. That mysterious enemy had no right to speak as he had spoken to Raven. His toying with her anger had made the team decider mad. And the latter didn't intend to let the foe hurt her any further.

"_**Leave her alone !"**_ the masked one screamed, his forefinger pointed at the large green alien eye watching the common room.

"WELL WELL WELL, IS THE LEADER OF THE TITANS UPSET ? YOU THINK SHE CAN'T TAKE IT, DO YOU ? THAT SHE IS UNBALE TO BEAR MY CYNISM ? BUT SHE CAN ! SHE IS MUCH STRONGER THAN YOU THINK ! AND I CAN TELL HER WHAT I WANT, SHE'LL DEAL WITH IT NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES !"

The black-haired teenager clenched his fists and made a menacing grimace, jaw contracted, teeth uncovered, eyebrows frowning deep, heart beating fast. He was not going to let a puppet master lack respect to any of his teammates, particularly not to the one he considered the bravest and the most powerful.

"If you address her the same way again, Fraktal, I swear that-"

"Robin, no !" gently interrupted the sorceress, her hand on his arm. She had quickly got closer to him and made that gesture to imply she wanted him to stop talking. "I know you're trying to stand up for me and avoid his hurting me, but I'll be okay, really. I'm over it, although I admit he badly upset me when he mentioned my bonds with… with Trigon."

She just couldn't resign herself to using the words "my father", because she hated him the most, and always instead used his name, Trigon, which didn't imply any family bond with him.

Robin had a concerned appearance.

"Rae, are you sure that you'll be alright ? I mean, he just has no damn right to behave that harsh with you, no matter how much he may hate you."

The brief sketch of a smile lit up her features for two seconds, and it was gone as it had appeared.

"Robin… I know that you're my leader, and that you feel obliged to protect your teammates, and I thank you for doing so with me right now, but I swear I'll be okay, no matter the horrible things he may utter later. I can take care of it. But thank you."

And as the cloaked girl ended her utterance, she gently squeezed the masked one's arm, as a sign of gratitude, and a quick smile crossed her lips, which vanished short after.

Then the empath turned around and faced the huge screen again, her purple orbs locked with the gigantic green one.

"And now, Fraktal, tell us what you want from us. Tell us what ordeals we'll have to get through if we intend to save the population of Jump City. I'm sure you have a few hardships for us up your sleeve, so go ahead and spit it out !"

Her tone was a most disdainful one and her look as sharp as it could.

On the screen, the central ball shrank while the circle grew wider.

"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S IN STORE FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS, DON'T YOU, RAVEN ? WELL, WHY DON'T YOU COME FIND OUT BY YOURSELF, MMMH ?"

There was silence in the room.

"Rae, what does he mean ?" asked Cyborg.

She turned to look at him.

"He wants me to read his mind, and thus discover what he has imagined for us. Reading his mind will allow me to know what is plan is."

"You… will go inside his mind ?" asked a confused Starfire.

"I will have to, Star, if we want to know what we're up to…"

"Watch out ! That must be a trap !" warned Beast Boy.

"It may be, yes… but what choice have we got ? We're stuck in there, and that's the only possibility we're left with…"

Robin laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Be careful, okay ? We want you back safe with us."

She looked him square in the eyes.

"I will !"

And again, the sketch of a smile wandered on her lips for two or three seconds.

Then she once more faced the supercomputer screen, closed her eyes and focused.

"COME TO ME, RAVEN ! COME INTO MY MIND AND SEE.."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Vault.

Portals.

Subterraneas.

Guardians.

Limbo.

Keepers.

Spirit World.

Mastermind.

**(A/N : okay, I know, "Subterraneas" doesn't exist (while "subterraneaNs" does, I believe)… but now, it DOES, as I just made it up ! XD)**

_SO, YOU SEE WHAT'S WAITING FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ? DO YOU THINK YOU CAN MEASURE UP, REALLY ?_

_I know we will, and we will send you where you belong, Fraktal !_

_AH AH AH, YOU'RE ALWAYS SO SELF-CONFIDENT, RAVEN ! YOUR FATHER WOULD BE PROUD OF YOU !_

_Shut up ! I never had a father ! And maybe I'm self-confident, but keep this in mind : since our last encounter, you may have grown much more powerful, but so have I, so don't underestimate me and my friends ! We have achieved great things, and we will this time as well !_

_YOUR OPTIMISM IS ADMIRABLE, REALLY ! WELL, WE'LL SEE.. WE'LL SEE… I NOW AUTHORIZE YOU TO ASK FOR OUTER HELP, FOR YOU'LL NEED SOME. YOU CAN USE YOUR POWERS TO CALL SOME OTHER SUPERHEROES, WHO WILL BE ABLE TO HELP YOU IN THE GREAT ORDEAL WAITING AHEAD. GOOD LUCK, RAVEN !_

_I don't need luck. I need faith in good. And that's what will help us defeat you !_

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/- /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Raven ! Raven ! Raven !"

The half-demon opened her eyes slowly and looked at Robin, then at each one in turn.

"You've been… hum, "absent" for so long that we were worried" explained Cyborg.

"Yes, we were, but we are happy to see that you are fine" declared Starfire.

"So, tell us what you saw in that perverted mind of his !" urged Beast Boy.

"Yes" confirmed Robin. "What has he got in store for us ?"

She looked seriously at her four friends and sighed, then spoke up.

"I will explain you later, not right now. Because I'm gonna get us some extra help, and I want to explain things only when everybody is here to listen. But all I can tell you is that…"

She paused before ending her sentence on a dramatic tone.

"…it will be very difficult for us, and we are all going to suffer… a lot !"

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**Okay, so now you know the face of evil. Or rather : the **_**eye**_** of evil, since it's everything the Titans saw of Fraktal. ;) And Raven already fought that enemy twice, so she knows about him and may help the team find a way to defeat it. Unless he proves that much powerful or tough ? Wait and see to find out.**

**I know that Rae and Rob's relationship in this chapter makes it seem as if they feel something for each other, but I didn't plan to make love bloom between them (although if I was to make a pairing in a story, it would definitely be a RaeXRob), so they are merely caring a lot about each others as very good friends do. No more. Yet, as I re-read this chapter, I wondered if maybe… maybe I would or could have the caring friendship relation evolve into love, slowly but surely, as story progresses. Ya know, friendship gradually turning into love, but very slowly, imperceptibly. I'm still hesitating if I should have Raven and Robin remain close caring friends or have them gradually fall in love with each other. You opinions would be welcome here, fans ! C'mon, tell me… =)**

**And what did Raven see ? What are these Guardians ? These Keepers ? What kind of place is Subterraneas ? Limbo ? The Spirit World ?**

**All this and more, you'll know… in the next chappy !**

**Thanxxxx all for reading & reviewing, your opinions matter a lot to me !**

**Take care ! And good luck wz yr own stories !**

**Peace, Love Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**

**(The Mad Hatter)**


	4. Help

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Well, I thought that the drama that took place in Kentucky – a boy shot his lil' sister by accident – would have me rant again and again and again against firearms, which I hate and bear a great grudge against America for being that much obsessed with guns, courtesy of the sacrosanct 2****nd**** Amendment, and how those damn conservatives often relate to firearms (conservatism is just one of the things I hate the most in the world, together with violence, selfishness and a few other things… and I mean conservatism in general, not only in USA…) but sadly do progressives as well… I thought I'd spill my acid words against those moronic people who feed a compulsion on weapons… and yet no… no… not always bad / sad news in the small chapter forewords…**

**No, today, let's praise, my friends, let's direct our kindest thoughts to… ALL **_**good**_** people who are taking great care of children ! **_**Good**_** parents, **_**good**_** baby-sitters, **_**good**_** employees of day nurseries, **_**good**_** pediatricians ( I do insist on the word "good", coz not ALL the people I mention are nice to children : there are indeed (many) bad parents, bad baby-sitters aso.) All of those who bring happiness in children's heart and help raise them well deserve so many congratulations, so much gratitude ! They do a very precious work… an invaluable one, actually ! Hats off to them all ! God bless them ! And God bless all children, especially the youngest ones !**

**Now, thanxxxx to Blood-of-Silver for bringing in a very nice review and favoriting plus following this story (ya rock, girl) ! It's exactly the analytic stuff I'd like to see more often in reviews, coz if very short comments of support are still nice, I confess preferring the reviews explaining what ya liked and why, and possibly also what ya think could be / have been improved. **

**Thanxxxx also to CuttieGirll57 if she reads this, since she helped me beat my high score in reviews, with a new record of 72 comments on my last MBC story. Thank ya so much for yr great support, Cris ! Hope ya read and enjoy this first TT fic' as well ! :D**

**And my endless gratitude vibes to miserycrush for her regular updates, and Gothica13 for her recent uploading of chapter… hum, 48, is it ?**

**But enough babbling ! Time to start !**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

"**You are never strong enough that you don't need help.****" – Cesar Chavez**

**8.3**** */*/*/* ****HELP**** */*/*/* ****8.3**

The shuttle was rushing through a sunny sky, void of any clouds. It was a beautiful day in the eastern part of the States, a perfect one to go outdoors, but more the kind one would spend strolling and having fun rather than fighting crime.

On board of the air vehicle were 5 people, all wondering about the same thing, all a tad anxious about what was going to happen when they would have reached their destination.

"But she didn't say anything ? Really nothing ?" asked Menos.

Bumblebee put her hand to her forehead. Mas had already questioned her about the same thing about one minute ago. Why did these twins have to be so insisting, each of them repeating what the other had said not so long ago ?

"Everything she let me know is that she needed us at their Tower as soon as possible. She underlined the urgency of our presence, and didn't explain anything, stating that she would tell us everything once we would be there. That's all !" replied the leader of the Titans East.

And she gave a knowing look at the Guatemalan midgets in the rear-view mirror, implying they should cease their asking the same question one after another.

"I'm not sure I didn't prefer when they spoke Spanish and we didn't understand any of their sentences" remarked Speedy, who was driving the shuttle. "At least, we could ignore what they told us. But now, we get everything they say and have to answer."

"Speedy, a team cannot work properly when half of it is unable to communicate with the other half ! That's why we asked Cyborg to fix it, with his translation software, and it was a welcome change…" trailed the Winged Titan, before adding, with a frown : "…although they regularly get on our nerves with their repetitions, yes !"

She could see the twins stick out their tongues at her, in the rear-view mirror, and this made her smirk.

"Anyway, whatever it is, it must be very important, to require our help" Aqualad pointed out, his arms crossed and a focused expression on his features. "The Titans West have always managed to deal with their own criminals, and never requested our help up to now. I wonder what is this new danger that is serious enough to ask for our assistance…"

"Not a clue, Buddy !" the African-American girl reacted. "We will find out only once we're on the spot. But true that I'm wondering myself. Could it be Slade who's back with much greater power than before ? Could it be Trigon who raised from the dead ? Or some new foe ? We won't know until we get to their Tower, but whoever is menacing the area obviously is extremely powerful, if he – or she – made our friends turn to us for help…"

The shuttle had already covered almost half of the distance between Hull City and Jump City and it seemed to them that their vehicle, no matter how fast it flew, would never make it quick enough to the West.

"Now that I think of it, there's another point that surprised me" noted Speedy. "You received a telepathic message from Raven. But why didn't they use the supercomputer ? Why didn't Robin contact us via that media ? It's usually the way it works between our two teams…"

"Maybe it is broken and they can't use it anymore ?" suggested the Water Titan.

"Mmmmh yeah…" conceded the masked archer. "But there are still the T-communicators."

It was Bumblebee to reply, this time.

"Actually, I forgot to tell you that I had tried to contact them via our communicator, and it didn't get through : I received only static…"

There was a short pause after this. And the twins, who had been pretty silent after their being indirectly scolded by the leader of the Titans East, continued the conversation.

"I don't like it. I really don't." Mas said, his eyes giving a worried look.

"Neither do I. That must be big trouble, if they called." Menos added.

The Winged Titan's face gained a decided expression.

"I feel the same. But don't worry, Team : no matter how great the danger, we will give everything we've got to fight it along with our western teammates !"

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/***

**(earlier at (West) Titans Tower)**

Raven opened her eyes and looked at her four friends.

"I have contacted Bumblebee telepathically and informed her that we need Titans East's help here as soon as possible. I didn't give any explanation, stating we would let them know when they arrive, in order to spare time and have them rush here urgently. I don't know how much time it will take them, but I would say 45 minutes. (She turned to Cyborg) Since you built that shuttle, do you think it's a good estimation for a flight across the land, from East to West ?"

The half-robot guy put his finger under his chin, thinking it up.

"Yeah… yeah, I would say more or less that much ! Good estimation."

Beast Boy looked impatient.

"And so, what do we do until they arrive ? I just don't stand waiting like this, not knowing what to do, not knowing what dangers lie ahead !"

"I feel just like you, green friend !" added Starfire. "I'm a bit scared, if I have to be honest with you. It's the first time we are locked inside of our own Tower, and… I don't like it !"

"Are you claustrophobic, Star ?" asked the metal teen.

"Clau- what ?" she failed to repeat.

"Hum, yeah… do you get afraid if you are locked in a space and have no way to get out ?" he precised.

She gave it a thought before answering.

"Well, no, I don't think I am… what you said, I'm not particularly afraid if I'm prisoner somewhere… but it's just that I don't like the idea of being prisoner in my own home…"

Robin walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Starfire, and I feel the same, believe me. But we need to remain focused and not give way to fear. Fear prevents us from acting efficiently, it blurs our landmarks and induce approximation in our actions. However anguishing it is to be held in here without any way out, we must deal with it and bite the bullet. Don't worry, we're gonna make it !"

She looked up, her green alien eyes meeting with his mask, and she tried a small smile.

"Thank you, Robin ! I hope things will be okay…"

He smiled back.

"They will !"

The leader turned to the telepath and wondered how she was feeling herself.

Raven returned his gaze with no apparent emotion showing.

Then she spoke up, looking in a circular way at each of them.

"I have to mentally retreat again. We'll need more help, and I'm gonna get this missing help. Please don't interrupt my concentration, unless the matter gets very serious. Thank you."

And with that said, she sat in lotus position, left the ground and hovered, her forefingers joined with her thumbs.

But this time she didn't utter her usual mantra.

"Tarkus Enym Oriqon Davath !"

And she began with her trance.

"Hey, that's not her usual words, right ?" BB wanted to check with his friends.

"No, it's not. But don't ask me : I don't know what her other magic words mean !" Cy simply told him.

Robin narrowed his eyes.

"What matters is that she will get us extra help !"

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/***

They were all waiting for her, the eight of them, seven gathered together and one sitting on a rock in the background.

She floated to the small plot of land where they stood and landed in front of the group.

"Good evening everyone !" she greeted.

"Hey there, Boss !" chirped Happy in a loud enthusiastic voice.

"Happy, please, behave yourself !" scolded Knowledge.

"Oh, come on, Knowledge, don't be such a killjoy again…!" intervened Rude.

The yellow-cloaked emoticlone frowned a tad at her orange counterpart, but didn't reply. She knew that trying to reason with Rude would lead nowhere. Raven's wisest emotion had already tried a few times, but to no avail : the impolite emoticlone was the one with whom it was the most tricky to have a sensible conversation.

"Please, do not fight, or this will upset Master…" Timid shyly said.

And as she said that, she briefly glanced at Raven.

The said Master had decided to wait a little, as she knew that, each time she had teleported to Nevermore, there had been a bit of quarrelling between some of her emotions before she could actually start to talk to them.

But now, Raven really wanted to brief her own team, so she coughed, to draw the general attention to her.

The emoticlones who were still engaged in a conversation stopped and all the group turned to face their chief.

"Right. As you know, we have a new powerful enemy to fight : Fraktal. He let me enter his mind, so that I could see what were the ordeals waiting for the Titans. From what I saw, it seemed clear that we would need outer help, therefore did I contact the Titans East for support. But even with them fighting with us, we won't be enough : my probing Fraktal's mind revealed numerous other foes operating with him. This means that we will need all the available help."

She made a break, to leave her emotions time to absorb all the info and possibly ask questions if need be.

It was Knowledge to react first.

"And therefore, you are asking us to take part in the battles, right ?"

The Dark Titan considered her wise part with the same respect she always felt for her. If there was one she knew would most likely get the heart of the matter, no matter how complicated it was, it definitely was Knowledge, the most clever of all.

"Exactly. You have all my might and can reinforce the Titans' teams. This will add eight more fighters to our group, and we really need everybody to get involved." She stopped talking as she focused her look on the only emoticlone remaining distant from her lookalikes, then she repeated, a tad louder and with obvious emphasis : "_Everybody_".

As she said this, her eyes stared on at the red-cloaked figure sitting on a rock, her head directed at the ground (which had briefly made Raven wonder if she was asleep or so… more like the kind of behavior Rude would adopt, but still, knowing Rage…)

The other emoticlones had turned around and were now also staring at the most rebellious of their group. They sensed that things would once again be pretty laborious with that hostile being who almost shamed all her lookalikes by acting always so "unruly".

But the silent figure neither moved nor showed any sign proving she had acknowledged what Raven had just explained.

This was going to be tricky, once again.

The sorceress cleared her throat in a very noticeable manner, somewhat excessively loud.

Rage's position didn't change.

Raven's eyes narrowed.

_Is she asleep ? Or is she ignoring me on purpose ?_

It was time to choose a more frontal approach.

"I said I would need _everybody_'s help for the tough fight awaiting us !" the Azarathian loudly uttered, her gaze lingering on the troublesome emotion.

Once again, there was neither a movement nor a word coming from the rebel.

The blue-cloaked girl was about to call for her emotion's name directly when…

"No"

Rage had spoken, but had limited her speech to the shortest.

"What ?" her master repeated, knowing she hadn't misheard but merely willing to make the other repeat.

Silence.

And then, again…

"NO !"

The first time, it had been pronounced in a calm, resolute, cold way, but this time, the same word had been uttered louder, more firmly and, to be honest…aggressively !

Raven unfolded her arms and stepped forward.

"Rage, I need you as much as I need all the others. You know you can't refuse to help."

"I can" immediately retorted the stubborn emotion, still not raising her head to look at her Master straight in the eyes.

The empath was about to add something when a loud voice was quicker.

"Oh come on, Red Hood, don't be a killjoy again ! It'll be loads of fun, you'll see ! And battling all together… ain't that just thrilling ?"

Happy was definitely the one to make the most efforts for everybody to get along fine and all tensions, all potential conflicts to be "forestalled". A precious trump when it came down to getting well with each other, even if her perspective was a tad too ingenuous.

Rage suddenly cast her head up, her four bright red eyes sending daggers at the bubbly emoticlone, her mouth twisted in a grimace of wrath.

"Do **NOT** call me **THAT**, stupid ! You know I hate it !"

"Stupid ? Bah, how "unnice" of you ! But what can I do if you've got a red cloak, like the Red Riding Hood ?" replied the cheery one.

"Shut up, doofus ! Or I'll smash your face !" warned the violent emoticlone.

Happy stuck out her tongue at her threatening red counterpart, who suddenly narrowed her four eyes and put both arms up, stretched in direction of the Pink Cloak.

"RAGE ! STOP !"

The fuming one turned her mad gaze at her Master, who clenched both her fists and wore a menacing mask on her face.

"Or you're going to fight me ?" sneered the Essence of Evil, the greatest danger inside of Raven.

The sorceress frowned even more.

"I asked for your help, I think…" slowly said the Azarathian, anger simmering underneath the apparent calm surface of words.

Rage let both arms down and, imitating her "owner", clenched her fists, a rictus of hate twisting her features.

"I'm NOT gonna help you ! NEVER ! And you know you can't force me, even if I'm only one of your parts !"

"Rage…"

"I said NO !" shouted the insane emoticlone. "You may be our Master, but you can't force ANY of us to fight for you ! And you know it !"

That was alas true, and Rae indeed knew it. She could at best threaten her emotion, she could even fight it – as crazy as it sounded for someone to actually battle against one of her _**own**_ emotions… - but there was no way, magical or physical, to command that emotion to do this or that.

"Listen, Rage, we need everyone for this battle…"

"LEAVE ME ALONE !"

And with that shouted, the Red Hood took off and swiftly floated away, leaving everybody standing there, some taken aback, others fed up with such a behavior.

The sorceress stood there, a long sigh leaving her lungs.

_How come I don't understand my own emotion ? How ironic, really…!_

She felt a soft pressure on her shoulder and turned around.

"Do not worry too much over her, Master ! We will all help you, and who knows, perhaps there is a slight chance she may get to change her mind…" Love whispered with a nice smile.

The blue-cloaked girl smiled back at the purple-cloaked one.

"Thank you, Love ! You always know how to comfort me at best ! Thank you ! And yes, we will have to do without her ! Too bad : I really would have liked her to join in and fight with you all…"

"Yeah, well, you know how irritable she is. Always grumpy and so… don't think that grumbler will show up again" said Sloth, who then began to clean her teeth interstices.

Raven winced with disgust when she saw that and gave a frown at her sloppy counterpart.

"What ?" innocently asked the gross emoticlone.

"You will never change, eh, Sloth ?" scolded Raven.

Her addressee shrugged and went on with her yucky business.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Sloth !" yelled Brave, arms crossed.

The concerned party only winked at the green one and merely continued.

Brave expressed her annoyance with a very loud sigh.

"It's useless trying to reason with her" explained Knowledge "you know that, together with Rage and Rude, she's part of the "unruly three", so better just let it go, or you'll be wasting your saliva to no avail !"

"Okay, okay !" conceded the courageous emotion on an irritated tone.

"Please, I need you to listen ! The time has come !" Raven spoke up, to gain everyone's attention.

The half-demon then turned and looked at all her emotions.

"We have to get ready now ! I'm counting on you ! Come on !"

And the Master and her different parts sat in lotus positions and focused their energies.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

"And here is Titans West's Tower !" announced Speedy.

And sure enough, the large T-shaped building was in sight on its islet.

The rain hadn't stopped and wind had now joined in, producing violent gusts which now made it difficult for the shuttle to keep its balance.

"Hey, what's the matter ?" asked Menos.

"Yeah, what's wrong ?" Mas added in echo.

Bumblebee let out a faint sigh upon hearing the twins once again expressing the same thing in very similar manners. They not only looked alike, but talked alike as well, and had that kind of upsetting habit to sound redundant, the second one basically phrasing the same thing as his brother, only in a slightly different way.

"Gee ! The winds are pretty violent here ! They are shaking the shuttle ! I will try and fly low, so maybe we'll manage to avoid most of this growing storm" suggested the archer.

"It's really strange… The weather has been just fine all across the states, up to now. No dark clouds, no rain, no winds… And just when we get here, we find this awful climate. Why is weather so different here ? There has to be something fishy under all this…" pointed out the leader.

"I'm sure Bumblebee's right" Aqualad backed up. "This terrible weather is certainly linked to some enemy, and he may be so powerful that our friends needed extra help to fight him."

"Makes sense, yes" admitted the Winged Titan.

The shuttle was now nearing the Tower, therefore they soon would be able to land on its roof.

Bumblebee narrowed her eyes and frowned.

"And there is another suspect element : their Tower is not lit ! As if there had been some power cut."

She turned to watch the buildings on the left and her frown augmented.

"What is really strange is that the city lights are all still on, as far as I can see. It thus seems that _**only**_ the Tower lacks electricity. Really bizarre…"

"All the more if we consider that they have generators in the basement, like us, which means that they should be provided electricity anyway. Unless their generators are broken or got some breakdown ?" pertinently said the Aquatic Titan.

"All this definitely seems shady" concluded Speedy. "I hope we're not coming too late…"

A minute later, the air vehicle landed on the roof of the T-building and the Titans East quickly got out and walked in a fast pace to the door leading inside, fighting against the gusts of winds to keep their balance.

As they were going downstairs, they couldn't help feeling a tad uneasy at the thick silence wrapping them.

No noise indeed originated from the premises, making it seem as if the place was desert.

The only sound their ears could grasp was the one they were producing themselves as they walked down the stairwell.

In fact, they were so oppressed by the silence that, by some curious side effect, they didn't felt like uttering a single word. As if they didn't dare to.

They finally reached the main floor and Bumblebee opened the door.

Before them stretched the corridor in which their friends' rooms were scattered.

As they continued, they pricked up their ears, hoping to get even the faintest sound. Anything indeed was preferable to that anguishing absence of noise.

But the rooms were all silent.

It really looked as if the Titans were absent.

Bumblebee finally managed to "break the spell" and say something.

"Perhaps they're in town battling…"

"Perhaps, yes" admitted Aqualad. "But since Raven told you that we should come to their Tower, why would they have left without waiting for us ? They know we can be here very quickly, so why would they have left ?"

"Perhaps they had to go fight some alien ?" suggested Mas.

"Yes, perhaps indeed" added Menos.

But this time, the leader didn't react, as she was too worried about the West Team to pay attention to the twins' iteration.

"Okay, but in that case, wouldn't they have at least warned us via communicator ? You know, for us not to be surprised to find nobody home…?" explained the masked one.

"Mmmmmh… you're right, Speedy ! They should have called us. Unless of course the urgency of their intervention was so vital that they forgot to do it…" proposed Bee.

But honestly, she wasn't convinced by her own hypothesis…

They stopped talking as they turned the last corner and headed for the common room, at the end of the corridor.

And as they approached, they could see silhouettes in the dark, standing inside the room.

"Booyaah ! There you are at last !" a powerful voice rang out.

The Titans East would have recognized that voice anywhere : it belonged to the one they once had chosen as the leader of their team… before Brother Blood menaced the said team !

"Hey Cyborg !" called Bumblebee as she was getting to the open entrance.

"Stop !" warned Robin. "There is a force field where the door normally is ! Just stand outside for now !"

The Titans East all stopped by the entrance… but Mas and Menos, who were always so curious, couldn't help reach out for the space before them, as they wanted to feel what a force field was like.

And their hands met with nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"A force field ? Where ?" asked Menos.

"Yes, where ?" his brother asked in echo.

The twins were now moving their hands in front of them, trying to probe the energy barrier Robin had just warned them about… but they couldn't feel anything !

"Dude, is it me or can the twins actually put their hands through the doorway ? Has the force field vanished or what ?" questioned Beast Boy.

"What if they tried to come in ?" suggested Starfire. "Perhaps they will manage to…"

Robin hesitated, yet quickly made up his mind.

"Okay, right ! Try to step inside ! Slowly !" he instructed.

The newcomers moved forward without haste… and didn't crash into any obstacle !

The path was free.

Therefore they finally entered the common room without problem.

But as soon as they were all inside, a dark grey barrier appeared in the doorway, and while the Titans couldn't spot the first barrier, as it was invisible, they now could easily see that there was a grey gate blocking the way out.

"WELCOME TITANS EAST !" bellowed a loud voice.

"Hum… maybe a tad loud, the voice of your supercomputer…" remarked Speedy.

"It's not the voice of the supercomputer, but of our enemy !" Cyborg said as he pointed to the giant screen from which the enormous eye was spying.

"That green thing up there… is the enemy ?" Aqualad asked, to be sure.

"It is, yes" confirmed the Tamaranean. "And he managed to lock us inside our Tower !"

"And he made people go crazy downtown !" yelled the changeling.

"Plus he deprived us of electricity and also neutralized our generators" added the half-robot.

"And that's why Raven called you guys telepathically : our communicators are not working anymore, and our foe prevents us from using the supercomputer, as you can see…" concluded Robin.

On the screen, the size of the green ball diminished while the one of the green circle augmented.

There was a silence as the eastern team was absorbing all the info provided.

Then Bumblebee looked to the right and her eyes opened a tad more.

"What is Raven doing ?" she wanted to know.

All eyes turned towards the levitating empath.

"Well, she got in touch with you through telepathy, then told us that she had got you and that she needed to fetch extra help. And she got in this trance, so we're waiting for her to "surface" back, to know what we will do" Robin summed up.

Just as these words were spoken, as if on cue, Raven opened up her purple orbs, looked around at the newcomers, uncrossed her legs and stood up.

"Good evening ! I'm glad you could be here that fast !"

"Hello, Raven !" Bumblebee greeted her, speaking for the whole team. "So you managed to find more help, Robin told me ?"

The Dark Titan quickly eyed her leader and a faint smile briefly slid on her lips.

"I did, yes." She took a few steps away from everybody, making sure that there was enough room around her. "And here is that additional help !"

Seven rays of different colours emerged from her body and hit the floor. And from those exact spots emerged seven cloaked clones of hers.

The cloaked newcomers looked at the groups of Titans, smiles on their lips.

"But how did you do that ? You are able to duplicate yourself ?" asked an astonished Bumblebee.

"No, these are not replicas of myself : these are actually personifications of my own emotions. They are known as "emoticlones". And they each have a name relating to their respective emotion."

She then introduced each of her emoticlone, quoting their names after the colours of their cloaks.

"Well, nice to meet you all !" said the Aquatic Titan. "My name is Aquald and this is -"

But he was cut short by Raven, who had raised her hand.

"This is useless : my emotions are various parts of me, and as such, they already know everyone that I have ever met. They share my knowledge of people and places, of powers too. So while I had to introduce them to you, as you meet them for the first time, the opposite is pointless, as they already know you via myself."

"No way : that's really cool !" exclaimed Menos.

"Yes : way cool !" insisted Mas.

Robin coughed.

"Well, this help is most welcome : we will need everyone available to help us fight that enemy up there !"

The loud voice broke through.

"BY THE WAY, RAVEN, SINCE ROBIN MENTIONED 'EVERYONE AVAILABLE', CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE RAGE IS, MMMMMMH ?"

The Dark Titan gritted her teeth.

"Mind your own business, Fraktal, and stop reading my mind !"

"TSS TSS, WHAT CANTANKEROUS WITCH WE HAVE HERE, REALLY !"

**(A/N : now, if anyone among you guys already knew the word 'cantankerous', well… I will eat this keyboard I'm typing on ! No wait… I can't finish the story if I do that ! ;) )**

"_SHUT UP !"_ yelled the sorceress.

Nobody dared to utter anything after that. They all watched her with a mix of surprise and fear. It wasn't really like Raven to shout, and all the more to shout out some curse.

"THAT'S IT, WITCH ! LET YOUR ANGER TAKE OVER ! YES, ABANDON YOURSELF TO THE DELICIOUS SHIVERS OF WRATH…"

_He is taunting me. Trying to hurt me orally. His goal is to make me lose my self-control for good and have Rage seize control over my body, so that I can't work out my plan efficiently. But I have to be strong. Strong and focused. Azarath Metrion Zinthos… Azarath Metrion Zinthos…_

"Don't listen to Fraktal !" Robin advised her. "He's trying to shatter your balance. Ignore him and rather tell us what you saw in his mind before and what is waiting for us."

The blue-cloaked teenager nodded and gave a small smile, gratitude addressed to her leader for helping her maintain her composure.

Then she turned again towards the dark wizard, her purple eyes cold as ice.

"We are ready. Send us to the Vault."

"BUT OF COURSE, DEAR RAVEN, OF COURSE ! AT YOUR COMMAND !"

And the powerful enemy roared with laughter, a deafening sound which was most unpleasing.

The next minute, a dark green vortex appeared in the middle of the common room and grew larger.

When it finally stopped increasing in size, the Dark Titan turns towards the crowd waiting behind her.

"And now, follow me."

The sorceress stepped onto the big whirlpool and sank gradually inside of it.

And, one after another, they all imitated her, and soon everybody had disappeared in the green magic portal, which gradually shrank in size and finally vanished.

The huge green eye suddenly left the screen and was replaced by static, which itself disappeared, leaving a completely black screen.

The operations room of the Titans' Tower was now deserted.

And in the city, things were worsening always more and more…

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**And you'll know how it goes next time, coz… eh eh eh, I'm still the old cliffhanger maniac, and I looooove nothing more than making ya wait and wait and wait ! ;)**

**So the emoticlones will all (except for one…) be part of the adventure. Well, that's what I had planned long ago, when I first thought of writing a TT fiction : I definitely wanted to include Rae's emotions in it, as I was a great fan of these ! Proof is, the episode NEVERMORE is still one of my fav's, along with the "Raven Connection" (which is how I call the trilogy : BIRTHMARK - THE PROPHECY - THE END).**

**That's also why I am very happy about MISERYCRUSH's story LOVE SUCKS : because it does involve the emoticlones as well. Some other stories had mostly Rage as protagonist emotion, but not the other ones, while this time, they ALL are involved ! **

**And I'm sure you are curious to see how Titans and emoticlones will collaborate with each other. Fair enough, coz the emotions had never left Raven's mind and had therefore never been in contact with Robin and the others, or with the Titans East. And they naturally never had to battle themselves… but this time, they are out in the real world and will have to fight for real ! So let's wish them good luck, right ?**

**Oh, about the "names" of the emoticlones : I used those I found on the Wikia page dedicated to the emoticlones. Go and check if you like.**

**Right, time for a lil' break, yeah ?**

**I'll return soon, and till then, TAKE CARE ! And write on yr stuff, plEEEAAAse !**

**Bye, Folks !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**

**(The Man on the Moon)**


	5. Missions

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Oh God, did ya hear abt the four Cleveland girls who had been held prisoners for TEN years ? Oh jeez, ****TEN**** years ! And abused all that time, one even getting pregnant and forced to keep the child ! Hell, when I think of that… I feel like throwing up ! I don't have enough hate in my body for that guy ! Even death would be too sweet for that piece of $H!T : infinite torture would be more suitable !**

**Human being can be **_**that**_** much of a bastard, that much of a swine ! (sorry for that, but I can hardly refrain from using those words when I realize how disgusting and violent some people can get… especially males…) And yet, he can also be so sweet and caring when he wants to, when he make a conscious effort ! Humans are really mixes of demons and angels…**

**I have been very moved by this horrible piece of news and once again feel like expressing my deepest sympathy to the young victims, despite the distance.**

**Now, I hope that YOU, dear readers, are ALL fine and happy with your lives… and that studies are not too much of a hassle for ya ! I do empathize about that, btw, coz I've been there as well, in my young age.**

**Now is time for heartfelt thanks to all those reading this story, but mostly to Sam (xsammiegirlx) and Ana (Blood-of-Silver) for their nice reviews and unfailing support. And special Big Up to Whitney (Ziandra) for favoriting / following / reviewing and naturally reading & enjoying this story ! You rock, Girl !**

**Shall we carry on ?**

**There we go !**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

"**Never explain―your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway." ― Elbert Hubbard**

**8.4**** */*/*/* ****MISSIONS**** */*/*/* ****8.4**

"Good evening, Starks ! Where is superintendent Moser ?" asked police lieutenant Heathfield to the young cop running down the street and passing him by.

"Oh, good evening, Lieutenant !" answered the agent as he briskly came to a halt. "He's in the first street on the right."

"Okay, thanks. I'll see you later."

Heathfield hurried to said street and soon spotted Moser, who was talking in a rushed voice on his duty cell.

The superintendent ended up his call by cursing and let out a loud growl.

"Hey Stewart !" greeted the young man.

Moser turned around and his eyes met Heathfield's.

"Ah, hello, Victor ! I'm just getting mad tonight, with all the mess happening in this city…!"

"Yes, I could see that when I saw you talking on the cell just a minute ago. Pretty difficult evening indeed !"

The superintendent gave a long sigh.

"But what's wrong with half of Jump City, Vic' ? What's the problem of these guys ? Why do they act so insane ? Looks like they got rabid or I don't know what other disease, and that it's what makes them behave that violent, that crazy ! It's just… incredible ! Unbelieveable !" he said.

Heathfield gave him an understanding look.

"I know, Stew', I know. I don't get any of it neither. I'm as taken aback as you. Never have I seen that many people getting off their heads all together at the same time. It's completely crazy." A short pause. "So how are things now ?"

Moser frowned and gained a more serious expression.

"I've called for backup and they said they can't right now, but will try to send patrols as soon as possible. But Christ, they just don't realize how completely messy things are getting now ! We've had several of our men injured and even two killed ! We just can't accept backup troops to be delayed much longer. We need help _**NOW**_, not tomorrow, when everything will have degenerated and there will be many more casualties and perhaps many more dead people !"

The lieutenant got thinking, as he had just remembered something.

"Did you retry calling the Titans ?"

Moser sighed.

"Yes, I did. I did, and several times already, but to no avail. Looks like either their communicators are malfunctioning or broken… or they can't or don't want to answer…"

The young man looked at his elder with surprise.

"Come on, Stew' ! Why would the Titans refuse to answer a police emergency call ? Does that make any sense at all ?"

The pepper-and-salt-haired man looked at his colleague.

"I know, Vic', but since I don't have the answer to the question of their silence, I'm just left considering all the possible options. Of course, I don't think it's likely that the superheroes protecting this town would fail us… but as I said, I really try to envisage all possibilities !"

The newcomer's jaw contracted as he recalled how much it upset him that the protectors of the city for once were missing, and alas on the very day the city urgently needed them, more urgently than they ever had.

"I don't like it, Stewart ! I really don't like it ! We are having all difficulties to contain the overall violence hitting the city, and if even with backup it isn't enough… then I don't know… I really don't ! I wish the Titans could be reached, in a way or another !"

Moser gave him a knowing look.

"And so do I ! I really wonder what's going on with our superheroes. Maybe… maybe they are in trouble and can't answer ? Anyway, I've sent a patrol to their Tower, to have them check and possibly find out what's wrong with our hero team. They shouldn't be long to call."

As if on cue, his cell phone let out its happy little tune. He immediately pressed the green key.

"Moser ! … Yes… Really ? That's curious… Yes… I see… Okay, I guess we have no way to find out… What ?... No, it's not necessary : we don't know where to search anyway… Yes, come back to Elm Street, as we need all available men… Yes, thank you ! Goodbye !"

He pressed the red key and turned to his young colleague, who was his friend as well. And the latter could tell, from the look on the senior police officer's face, that it wasn't good news.

"The patrol I was just talking about arrived at the Titans Tower, only to find it deserted. Or so it seems, I should rather say, because they could not enter the building : the intercom is not working, so they can't get in touch with the inside. But they say that there is no light to be seen in the building. It sounds like a power cut. That or… the Titans have gone and not returned yet. And of course, if they don't answer their communicators, how can we contact them ? And we have even less chances to locate them. They could be in Jump City just like they might have called outside of town for a remote business…"

Heathfield didn't say anything. He just stood there and stared intensely at Moser. But deep in his heart, he knew that things were really bad right now, without the powerful heroes to help the police containing the widespread violence.

"So… I guess we're on our own, for once… and at the worst time…" concluded Moser.

His young colleague looked down to the ground, despondent.

"Oh God… if even _they_ can't help us in such a first-hand matter, one as crucial as this, then what will become of Jump City ?"

The superintendent didn't reply this time, but merely raised his eyes to the sky, worry stifling his heart, stress filling his body, despair menacing his mind.

Yes, things were that awfully disastrous today…

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/**

The Teen Titans ignored everything from the drama that was playing in their city. They weren't aware of the police's efforts granted to find them and get their invaluable support. They couldn't guess how disappointed and even despaired the authorities were about their absence. And they couldn't imagine how much the situation had worsened.

But although they couldn't help their fellow citizens right now, they still were about to start a terrible adventure that would enable them to actually restore peace in Jump City… provided, of course, they won, which didn't go without saying !

The West and East Titans, together with seven of the eight emoticlones, were now in what looked like a crypt. Some actually feared that dead bodies would emerge any minute from one side or another. But it was true that the place was definitely seedy.

There were vaults everywhere around the place and mist lazily crawled on the ground, wrapping legs in a cold embrace, especially the bare legs of Raven and Starfire.

"Dude, what's this creepy place ? Looks like a place where they put coffins and stuff…" said the changeling in a not-so-reassured tone.

"Yes, some kind of… of vault ! And it also makes sense with all those vaults circling us !" remarked a pertinent Aqualad.

"This place is indeed called the Vault" the cloaked Titan informed all of them. "I know because when I went inside of Fraktal's mind, I could learn all the names of the places and the generic names of the enemies."

"The generic names ?" the Tamaranean repeated in echo.

"Yes. Fraktal is actually not the unique enemy we'll have to face. He has seven underlings under his orders. And these are protected by magic, in relation to seven magical foes who live in another world than the underlings. I will now explain more in detail and ask you if you've got questions each time I finish up an explanatory part."

She gave a look around, to see if anybody already had something to say, but it was obvious that all were literally hanging onto her every word, and certainly not willing to interrupt, unless the sorceress asked them if they had any specific question about the content.

Raven ultimately let her purple eyes linger on Robin, to confirm he didn't have anything to add, and as he nodded, she decided that it was time to go into detail.

"To defeat Fraktal, we have to first beat his seven underlings, who are known as the Keepers. But as I said, one can't start to fight them immediately, as they have magical protections, which are controlled by seven other enemies called the Guardians. Each time a Guardian dies, his body releases the essence that controls the barrier set around the corresponding Keeper. That essence is called 'aura'. And the aura needs to be transferred from the Guardians' world to the Keepers' world, and once the aura reaches the Keeper, it will annihilate its magical barrier and enable us to fight him for good. Do any of you have questions ?"

And of course, she wasn't surprised as to who addressed her first.

"So you're saying that we must beat the Keepers then give their auras to the Guardians so that their barrier is destroyed, right ?" asked a puzzled Beast Boy.

The goth frowned at him.

"I see someone **was** paying attention when I explained. It's the other way round, Beast Boy : first, we defeat the Guardians, then we take the auras coming out of their bodies and send them out of the Guardians' world, into the Keepers' world, and auras will then make the magical barriers of the Keepers vanish. And once this is achieved, without their magical defenses, they get vulnerable and can be defeated. Did you get it now ?"

The morpher adopted a thoughtful stance.

"I think I do…"

Yet his reply wasn't the most convincing one.

Rae sighed, rolling her eyes up.

"Any other questions ?" she asked on, her gaze making a panoramic movement, her purple irises stopping on Rob.

"Where are the passageways to the Guardians and Keepers' worlds ?" asked Speedy.

Just as he asked that, a grey and a black portal materialized in the Vault, the first one on the left, the second one on the right.

"It wasn't me to make them appear" commented the Azarathian. "I guess Fraktal was waiting for me to give the full explanation before actually opening them. Now, I'll give you the last details about these portals."

She walked in direction of both magical passageways and stopped in between the two.

"This" she commented while showing the grey portal "leads to the Guardians' world, which is known as Subterraneas, which probably means 'underworld'. And this…" she went on while pointing at the black portal "leads to the Keepers' world, which is called Limbo. So the auras, once released from Guardians' bodies, must come out from Subterraneas, here, and get into Limbo, there, to reach the Keepers and destroy their magical defenses. Is this still okay for you ?"

Her sharp look was set on a certain green colleague of hers.

"Yeah, yeah, got it, Rae, so needless send me that killing look !" he grumbled.

"I didn't say anything" she merely replied.

"No… but your look said it all for you !" he grumbled away.

She shrugged and went on surveying the "audience".

"So the auras come out of the Guardians' bodies, then get out from that world, Subterraneas (he indicated the grey portal) and fly into that one, Limbo (his finger switched to the black portal) to reach the Keepers and destroy their magical shields, which enables us to start fighting them for good. Is that correct ?" summed up Cyborg.

"Perfectly correct. You summarized it at best." the Dark Titan answered. "Any other question ?"

None of the Titans uttered anything more, so she could come to the very last part of her explanation.

"There is one more thing you have to know before we actually set out into the portals. Auras cannot move outside of Subterraneas or Limbo. They can only move when they are _inside_ one of the two worlds. This implies that, in this place called the Vault, auras can't move. As a result, they have to be manually taken from one portal to the other, as they can't do it by themselves. So one of us will have to remain here, by the portals, to move the auras from Subterraneas to Limbo. I will transfer part of my power to the one here who has got the highest magical potential and he will ensure the link between both worlds for the auras. Still all clear for you all ?"

"If I understand correctly" Bumblebee began "one of us will use magic to have auras go from the Guardians world, Subterraneas, to the Keepers' world, Limbo. And this magic will be provided by you. Did I get it all right ?"

"Yes" simply confirmed Raven.

"And who will be the one who stays here for the transferring of the auras ?" questioned Star.

Raven started towards her friends as she spoke.

"As I said, I must transmit magic to the one Titan who is the most sensitive to magic and therefore has the highest magical potential. And that person is…"

She stopped in front of her leader.

"You, Robin."

Her purple spheres were staring straight where his eyes supposedly were, but that his mask prevented from actually seeing.

"Me ?" he reacted.

"You" she repeated, and sketched a smile.

"So I will take the auras once they come out from Subterraneas through the grey portal, carry them to the black portal and let them enter Limbo, and then they will locate the Keepers by themselves, once inside ? Did I sum it up alright ?"

"Yes, as usual…"

Her smile stretched up a tad more.

"Okay, so now we have to decide who goes to Subterraneas and who goes to Limbo !" announced The Boy Wonder.

But the sorceress raised her hand.

"Actually, _**I**_ will go to Subterraneas and defeat the Guardians, while my emoticlones will go to Limbo with all Titans save Robin and me. We must simply make groups, each of my emotions teaming up with one Titan."

"You… are going to fight the Guardians on your own ?" asked Aqualad.

Raven nodded.

"But that is too dangerous !" immediately exclaimed the Masked Titan. "You can't go in there all alone, Rae !"

She gave him a comprehensive look. He was obviously most worried for her. And that was one of the many points which proved Robin a great leader : he was always anxious about his teammates when he got aware of a potential or actual danger for them.

"Don't worry, Robin, I'll be okay. Guardians may be powerful, but they are still less than Keepers, so it shouldn't be too difficult for me. Besides, all Titans and emoticlones will be fighting the strongest foes, Keepers, so there is nobody left to accompany me in Subterraneas and struggle Guardians by my side."

"I could !" he quickly retorted.

"Alas no" she retorted back, just as fast. "There definitely has to be a Titan here to ensure the aura link between both worlds. You are the one who can handle magic the best, I can sense it, so you have to stay here. You can't make the aura transfer if you are in one of the worlds, that's why it is necessary you remain here in the Vault for the world transit."

The Caped Titan **(A/N : this refers to Robin, as Raven is the Cloaked Titan)** didn't add anything, and his eyes being hidden it was difficult to draw any emotion or feeling from it, but his look directed to the floor together with his mouth arched down spoke by themselves clearly enough.

She saw this and felt pain wrap her heart. She really didn't like seeing him that way.

"I'm… sorry" she added.

"It's okay, Rae. I understand."

But his tone showed an evident disappointment.

"Okay, so what about we make the groups ?" said a cheery Happy. "I would like to choose my partner, and propose all of us can as well. So I want to go with Starfire."

"Oh yes ! I will be happy to go with you… hum, what's your name again ?" asked the Tamaranean.

"Happy !" the Pink Cloak chirped. "So you'll be happy to go with… Happy ! Ah ah ah !"

Raven frowned.

"Happy, please, behave yourself !"

The addressee of the remark rubbed the back of her head and stuck her tongue out in a funny way as she simultaneously winked, showing her mischievous side.

"I'll go with Green Bean" Rude informed. "Let's just hope he'll be able to avoid silly remarks on the way, as he usually does. Right, Garfield ?"

And a nasty smirk followed.

"Hey ! Watch your mouth !" screamed the changeling in an indignant tone.

"Whatever…" mocked the Orange Cloak.

"I'll go with Cy !" loudly uttered Brave. "That guy kicks up !"

"Thank you… hum, Brave !" Cyborg recalled just in time. "You're not too bad yourself !"

"Thanks, Man !" exclaimed the courageous one.

"I'll take the archer" announced Sloth.

"Hum, name's Speedy, just in case" the said archer replied.

" 'kay, Speedy. And mine's Sloth. I warn you, I'm not in the mood for fighting, so you may have to do most of it. I'm sure you understand."

The masked young man didn't believe what he had been told.

"Yeah, so much for team work…" he finally dropped, somewhat grumpy.

Love was staring at someone and didn't hear what another emoticlone was telling her.

"Hello, Love !" repeated the voice, more insistent.

The Purple Cloak blinked and turned to her left, only to see Knowledge looking at her from behind her glasses.

"Y… yes ?"

"I was asking you who you want to choose among the remaining Titans. There is still Bumblebee, Aqualad and Mas and Menos."

The sweetest of Raven's emotions recalled once being attracted to the Aquatic Titan, and therefore it was easy to make up her mind.

"Aqualad" she replied. "I'll team up with Aqualad"

"It will be my pleasure" the sea inhabitant noted on a complimentary tone.

This made Love blush, but although she still found him attractive, it wasn't the one she had on her mind lately.

"Okay, so I'll go with Bumblebee" briefly said Knowledge.

"Nice working with you" remarked the East leader.

"Same here" advised the four-eyed one. **(A/N : eh eh, for once, this doesn't refer to Rage : I just found out on the translator that "four-eyed" is a familiar/colloquial word to refer to someone wearing glasses… but yeah, I'd better not used that expression in case Rage and Knowledge would be arguing together, or you'd be lost ! ;P)**

"And so, what about us ?" asked the Guatemalan twins. "Who accompanies us ?"

There was a silence as all emoticlones looked at each other, to find out who hadn't been called among them.

Finally, it was Knowledge to make it public.

"Timid, why didn't you say anything ?" she questioned her shy colleague.

"Well, you know why…" trailed the Grey Cloak.

"Beacause she's shyyyyyyy !" Happy teased her antipodal-mood mate.

"Come on, Happy !" scolded Brave. "Stop embarrassing Timid ! You know that she is far different from you and more introvert, so please do not make her feel uneasy !"

"It's okay, really…" the said introvert emotion said with a tiny smile.

"So you will go with the twins, right ?" checked Knowledge, a nice smile on her lips as she addressed Timid, whom she had sympathy for.

"Yes, I will" slowly replied the most discrete of all emoticlones.

"Holà, nice to meet you ! I'm Mas !" enthusiastically screamed Mas as he bowed.

"Yeah, nice to meet you ! And I'm Menos !" shouted Menos, equally loud, and bowed too.

"H… Hi…I'm… Timid…" hesitantly replied Timid, impressed by the energy and the loudness of the small brothers.

"So I guess we're all teamed up now, yeah ? What about we now moved our butts and get some action ?" proposed Rude, scratching her belly, and she turned towards her Master.

The latter frowned, upset as she always was when her impolite emoticlone dragged the attention to her and of course never failed to display a more or less gross attitude.

"It's not : "we move our butts", Rude, it's "we set out on mission". Please talk correctly. Thanks."

She gave a circular look at everybody and saw that they now all were in groups of two, except for Timid and the twins, who were a group of three. And, of course, Robin, since he was to remain in the Vault for the aura linking, from Subterraneas to Limbo.

"Then we are now all ready for our missions. Be careful, everyone, because the Keepers are very powerful, as I can tell from the power vibes I sense coming from them. In case you need to communicate, you will be able to do it via telepathy, as our communicators can't work in those two outer worlds. You just focus and imagine what you want to say and to whom you want to say it, and the words will be sent directly to the addressee's mind. If you have any problem with telepathy, focus your mind in a distress call, and a distress vibe will be sent to me. I will then contact you and explain you how to do it correctly."

She remained silent and turned to Robin, then nodded to him.

They were finally ready for the real thing.

"Alright, Titans, you heard Raven. I know she gave us much info in a relatively short period of time, and it's not simple to interiorize all this, but if you have any more questions right now, please do ask them immediately, so Rae can answer them and everybody can benefit from her replies."

He took a survey on the troops, waiting for a possible intervention, but no one breathed a word.

"Seems that nobody has any question left…" he remarked. "And if there is any problem during your missions, you can contact either Raven or myself via telepathy."

"Okay, let's go kick the baddies' butts !" energetically yelled BB.

"Yeah, we'll show them who the Teen Titans are !" screamed Cy, before realizing his little omission and correcting : "And the East Titans as well, of course !"

"We'll fight with all our powers and we will be victorious !" exclaimed Star.

"We will" calmly said Rae.

"Titans, GO !" concluded Rob.

And all the Titan-emoticlone duos (trio for Timid and Mas/Menos) entered the black portal leading to Limbo and the Keepers, disappearing one by one in an unknown world.

When the last one had stepped inside, Robin and Raven found themselves alone in the Vault.

The masked leader turned to his dark friend.

"And now, you will enter the grey portal to reach Subterraneas and fight the Guardians, right ?"

"Right" she replied, looking at him with calm… but also with emotion **(A/N : funny if you consider that all emotions – save Rage – have already gone… ;) )**

"And…" He visibly hesitated. "I definitely can't come with you, can I ?"

He was still trying, although he sensed that he would get a negative answer.

"You can't, alas. I wish you could though…" Her gaze softened, but soon got firmer again. "…but someone has to stay here to help auras from the grey to the black portal."

She looked down, then swiftly up again.

"I'm sorry, Robin."

He smiled, a frank smile in which was mixed sympathy and care.

"Well, it'll have to be okay. I'm sad I can't fight by your side, you know… but that's how things are, and so we have to deal with it anyhow."

He placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Whatever happens in there, Rae, I just want you to know that… I'll be with you ! Not physically, but mentally ! I'll support you all the time through my thoughts. And I hope everything will be fine for you."

She smiled wider than usual.

"Thank you, Robin. Thank you very much. And do not worry too much for me : I'll be alright. I can handle these Guardians."

He looked at her with extreme intensity then dragged her in his embrace, hugging her tight.

"Please, Rae, please… be careful !"

His heart was pounding hard within his chest.

"I will. Thank you, Rob !"

She returned the hug and tightened her embrace as well, her head resting against his.

They finally parted and looked at each other, smiling. The empath rarely smiled that much and that wide, and so it was some kind of gift she was now offering her leader.

"And please let me know if things go really bad for you, okay ?" he uttered on an almost begging tone.

She slowly nictated and gently snorted, her smile growing a tad wider.

"Yes, but I will be fine, trust me. Good luck with auras, and if anything goes wrong with your taking them from Subterraneas to Limbo, just contact me telepathically and I will help you. Alright ?"

"Alright."

Everything was said, and now everything needed to be done.

After one last look, Raven turned around and walked to the grey portal leading to the seven Guardians, followed close by the Boy Wonder.

She stopped right in front of the magical passageway and half-turned to her masked teammate.

"Take care, Robin !"

"No, it's rather me to ask you to take care, Raven !"

And after a last caring look of hers, the sorceress entered the dark world where the protectors of the Keepers were hiding.

Robin was now all alone in the Vault, his eyes still set on the portal where his dear friend had disappeared.

And now, he had nothing to do.

Nothing… but wait…

**/**

**Aaaaaah, finally finished, that chapter !**

**Okay, you may say there was a lot of babbling in this one, but I definitely needed to give explanations about the two missions the Titans will have to carry out successfully, for the salvation of Jump City. I hope you didn't get too lost with all the info, Guardians, Keepers, Subterraneas, Limbo, portals, auras, magical defenses and stuff. If you have any questions left, just tell me via either review or PM.**

**I also put a part with policemen, to show how the authorities were taken aback, and even despaired, by the Titans' sudden silence and their non-answering on their communicators. The idea was to show how distressed the humans could get when the superheroes are not around to help. A way to also underline the crucial importance of the TT for their city.**

**Hum, I confess having much fun to pair Titans and emoticlones. I had already written down the names of everybody, and also those of the enemies, to know which Titan will team up with which emoticlone, and which Keeper they will fight together. I also linked each Keeper to a specific Guardian, so that I have a global view of all this.**

**Ah, most important : I know that you may have the impression that Raven and Robin are already in love, but it is a wrong impression. They actually are in a very very close friendship relationship, with much care and sweetness for each other, and that really intimate relationship will later evolve in love (my reviewers let me know that they are in favour of a love evolution between Rae and Rob, so that's where it'll head to). But right now, they are still best friends… although they can be said to actually almost overstepping the boundary between friendship and love. Patience, Folks, Patience…**

**Last, the title : Raven explains the two MISSIONS to the others, and teaming up Titans and emoticlones is kind of a MISSION in itself, plus the police must carry out their "protecting the city" MISSION without the superheroes, but still dispatch an unit in MISSION to the Tower to check on the Titans, in vain. Logical much a title ? ;)**

**Alright, that's it for now. Stay tuned and thanxxxx in advance for yr kind reviews, favoriting / following and all nice stuff !**

**Take care !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**

**(Aquarius) **


	6. Griffin

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Not always negative, shall we ? Enough dramatic news at a time !**

**Let's smile a bit !**

**Tell me, do any of you like the bands Smashing Pumpkins or Blur ?Yeah ? They're pretty cool, IMO ! **_**Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness **_**by the Smashing Pumpkins is a monument of rock music : it has been certified DIAMOND by the RIAA. Diamond ! Which means at least 10'000'000 copies sold ! Can ya imagine ?! And lucky bast… hum, MAN that I am ;) coz I get to see both bands live this summer. And great thing is that tickets are cheap and location is quite close from my city ! And are any of ya going to concerts anytime soon ? If so, mind telling me **_**who**_** you're gonna see live ? :D**

**I go to that same festival each year for 1 or 2 concerts, and it's pretty awesome each very time. For instance, last year, I had the pleasure to also attend the gigs of Bloc Party and M83, the latter being a French electronic combo which is **_**very**_** popular in… USA ! (ask around ya…). **

**But enough of me, right ? 8))) (that's a smiley, just in case…nothing to do wz the title of this story ! XD)**

**Thanxxxx to Ana and Sam for their usual reviews and for Shadow96angel for following the story (…but alas not reviewing it… sniff, sniff…) ! Now I'd be glad if I got a few more reviews, but… the Teen Titans archive evolves much faster than the MBC one, so I've got muuuuuch more concurrence now that I'm on TT. Fair enough, I'll say… ^^''**

**Oh, btw : I modified a tad the summary of the story, notably removing that line : "But it naturally couldn't last", with the "it" referring to Jump City's unusual quietness. It indeed appeared pretty logical that a city can remain lastingly quiet… kind of laboring the point, right ? ;) I replaced it with a line referring to "Raven's ancient enemy (an OC)", which is more interesting.**

**Alright, enough thought, enough said… now's writing time !**

**N'joy once more !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

"**As the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle was the king of the birds, the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature. The griffin was also thought of as king of the creatures." - WIKIPEDIA**

**8.5**** */*/*/* ****GRIFFIN**** */*/*/* ****8.5**

A bleak landscape, absolutely desert, without any sign of life miles and miles around.

Some barren environment where nothing seemed to exist, not even the toughest plants growing among stones, without any visible soil to draw nutritive elements from.

Only a mineral hell covered with rocks. Nothing but stones everywhere, as far as the eye could see. No ground. No wood. No plants. No water. And not even the tiniest animals.

Existence seemed to have been banned from this hostile land long ago, never to return.

Raven floated slowly in these unwelcoming surroundings, calmly turning her head to the right then to the left, but any direction she looked in, she couldn't spot any movement, hear any sound, feel any presence.

She was flying on her own in this wilderness.

As a result of this very peaceful atmosphere, void of even the faintest sound, the sorceress finally loosened up and let her mind wander in more intimate realms.

She couldn't help thinking about Robin. And remembering about the sorry look on his face when he had understood he would be forced to remain alone in the Vault, without any possibility for him to accompany her or even help her if need be.

She hated to recall that sad expression on his features. But she couldn't help it : his disappointment haunted her and continued to hurt her, even in this moment. She was restless about his mood right now and dreaded he would still feel disillusioned about her going to the struggles all alone. She knew he would have preferred to fight by her side, but that for once proved impossible…and just when there were the toughest fights waiting ahead !

Raven then began to analyze her own behaviour to Robin.

She had told everyone that the leader would have to remain in the Vault for the aura transition from one world to the other, and that he should be the one doing it because he had the highest magical potential. All of it was true, so she hadn't made anything up, but she knew that there was another point which only _**she**_ knew about : it was that just **anybody** could have completed the task successfully, and **not necessarily** the Titan with the greatest magical sensitivity. That implied that she could have transmitted part of her powers to just **any** random Titan, and the one chosen would have been able to carry out his work perfectly.

Put differently, it wasn't compulsorily Robin to be the one creating the link between the portals. It could have been Cyborg, Bumblebee, Aqualad, even Starfire or Beast Boy.

But what she now had to admit, now that she was all alone with herself, is that she had actually chosen the Boy Wonder for a very precise reason, without anyone else suspecting it. It was her little secret, and no one could ever guess it. And this secret was…

The empath swallowed as she was facing the facts, forced to be honest with herself and not lie to herself.

The fact was that…

…that….

…she didn't want Robin to get hurt in battles !

Raven had picked Rob out of the group because she wanted to protect him.

She had to admit that this was the real reason for her choosing the leader as the permanent Vault sentinel.

And why did she want to avoid her masked teammate to get hurt ? What was her motivation ?

_Robin is my partner in crime fighting so it only comes as natural to do what I can to prevent him from suffering in battles._

But while she told herself so, she knew fairly well that it wasn't the **main** reason.

And behind that admittedly valid motive was hidden another one, which she was reluctant to bring up, but still was aware she would have to admit.

_Okay, I did it because I care for him. I care __**a lot **__for him. More than I do for other friends of mine. But it makes sense, because he's the leader of our team, so he should logically be cared more for… right ?_

Right.

It all made sense.

But still…

…still she knew that, however this again was pure truth, it wasn't the _entire_ truth.

There was still something lacking.

Raven was now looking absent-mindedly at the ground, lost in thought.

The fact was that…

She gulped.

Well, she wasn't sure about what she was feeling anymore. And that was pretty unusual for a person who had always shown signs of self-confidence, of firmness, of realism and irony… but certainly rarely of weakness, of doubt, like now !

And her confusion grew only bigger as she could distinctly feel a certain emoticlone also focusing her own thoughts on Robin…

_I am merely confused, that's all. And so is she _**(A/N : that is : "and so is my emoticlone"… but I'm still not mentioning the identity of that emoticlone ! XD Yet, I'm sure ya cunning readers can "fill in the blanks", can't ya ? ;) )**. _But I'm simply caring a lot for Robin, because he's a teammate of mine AND because he's the leader._

And…?

And that was it… wasn't it ?

Confusion… always confusion…

Raven still had difficulty with her feelings, today… and she remained lost in thought as she flew, her eyes stuck to the stony ground.

She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice a movement above her head.

And that's when they attacked her.

**(A/N : Cliffanger number 857463 ! XD)**

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/**

Robin was sitting on the ground of the Vault, his back against the cold stone, his legs wrapped in the no less cold mist which slowly moved on the floor in lazy changing curls.

He wasn't checking on the two portals, but had his eyes lost in the vague.

There was an inner fuzziness lasting within his mind. Something he wasn't sure of and that he wasn't certain he would be _willing_ to face.

He was so worried about Raven. He didn't know where she was, what she was doing… and more importantly, if she was alright right now !

True she hadn't left long ago, but after all, danger can arise anytime, and one mustn't necessarily wait long until the problems come their way.

_Rae… Where are you ? What are you doing ? How are you ?_

How was she ?

Yes, how… ?

He couldn't help thinking about her. The most powerful of the Titans. One of his best friends (if not his best…). And _the_ one who had been inside his head. Who had known about his thoughts. That is, the most intimate part of his inner life, of his psychology.

There was undeniably a bond between the two of them. A strong, lasting bond, that the leader shared with no one else, and of no other comparable intensity.

Could Raven, because of this extremely intense link between them, be considered his best friend ?

He wasn't sure.

In fact, he wasn't absolutely certain of what he really felt for her : a strong, significant friendship or… ?

Or more ?

He felt part of his being hesitate… wonder if there wasn't **more** than just "buddy feeling" between the sorceress and him… then lose the emotional and sentimental balances of his identity.

How come Raven could trouble him that much ?

She was the only one to make him that uneasy… but uneasy in a _positive_ sense. In her presence, he did feel comfortable, but maybe not always as much comfortable as he generally was with the others.

With her, there was something more.

There was an additional feeling.

And that feeling induced both some new emotion and a peculiar wave of warmth which wrapped his body in its comforting embrace. Warmth related to happiness.

And even in this moment, when he was in this cold environment, in this creepy vault, he still did feel warm as he thought of her.

_Raven… where are you ?_

His gaze was lost somewhere in front of him, unfocused. He was "absent".

Then he blinked and it hit him : he had been daydreaming as his mind was set on her. Daydreaming and feeling… a tad lost.

He began to feel confused.

Why did he had that impression of being perturbed ? Why did he experienced disconcert when he was directing his thoughts at her ?

_Why do I feel that way ?_

The acrobat felt that his usual self-confidence was gone. That he hadn't the same firm grasp over events that he generally had.

And the thing is that it was the empath, **and only her**, to make him feel that bizarre, that moved, deep inside.

He started to wonder if maybe…

But come on, it couldn't be true ! Rae was his good friend. It's true that she had been inside her head, and therefore shared some intimate link with him, but that was it. Nothing more.

She was just a good friend.

A _**VERY **_ good friend.

Perhaps… perhaps even, who knows, his best friend, but a _friend _nonetheless.

Just a _friend_.

Yes, only a long-time buddy and teammate, and there.

But, deep inside him, a faint voice was whispering something… something which made his self-convincing attempts less efficient, less powerful…

Was he so sure about his OWN feelings…?

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/**

Raven avoided the black bird that was once again rushing to her, his beak wide open to bite. But then she felt a surge of pain stem from her left ear : another bird, that she hadn't spotted, was already at work, his beak holding her ear firmly and the bird pulling hard as if to tear the human's body part.

The cloaked girl screamed in pain and a black ball of energy formed around her hand, which she cast at her back assailant.

The bird was sent flying away by the black orb, but immediately, another one started at her, his claws looking for her face.

Raven got rid of that one with a black energy arrow and did the same for the next one assaulting her from the side.

Soon, more black birds arrived and began assailing her mercilessly, and it started to get more and more violent.

The Azarathian had noticed that her winged enemies resembled ravens **(A/N : Raven attacked by raven-like creatures… okay, don't make ANY comment ! ;P)** but that they had only one eye and it was green. Like Fraktal's.

But although Rae fought bravely, she soon was outnumbered and outdone, as each time she was directing her attacks at one of the monsters, many others assaulted her from all directions, and her body was now circled by a very aggressive swarm of mutant birds who tried non-stop to bite her and scratch her.

She was now bleeding in several places of her face and on some parts of her body, her skin being deeply gashed after all the assaults. Pain was there, throbbing on and on, and she naturally could feel it, but she forced herself to ignore it and focused on the battle.

The sorceress felt Rage's power rise inside of her, and…

"**AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"**

A blacksphere grew bigger around the pale teenager, bigger and bigger, until it burst out in dozens of black rays which stabbed each member of the diabolical breed.

The corpses of the dead birds fell all together to the stony ground and lay there, as motionless now as they had been frenetically flying and attacking the moment before. And therefore, there soon was a flock of black winged bodies "staining" the hard ground underneath the Dark Titan.

The latter let out a sigh and touched her ear, which was now bleeding. She winced at the acute pain which rose in her body. But she actually felt sore in several places, as the demonic beings had driven their sharp claws in numerous spots of her grey skin.

_I should take time to heal those wounds. They are not that serious, so it shouldn't take too much time. It's better to do it now, while no new enemy is in sight, than being distracted by the pain during the battle against the Guardian._

Thus did the meditation adept cross her legs and sit there in lotus position. A purple aura soon appeared around her body as she levitated, but without uttering any single word, simply leaving her healing powers at work.

The wounds slowly closed, shrank and finally vanished from the grey demonic skin, one by one, their regular disappearance gradually bringing the body back to its original state.

It lasted a good long time.

And finally, the Dark Titan, the most powerful of her group, opened her eyes and found herself in top condition again.

_These enemies certainly are those protecting the Guardian. This means that I'm not far from his lair. The first battle will soon begin._

She gave a panoramic look around, trying to determine in which direction she should head, and finally stopped her gaze.

Over there.

She couldn't sense the foe, but her sixth sense told her she had to fly over there.

And her sixth sense seldom betrayed her.

Therefore did she start to float up the stony hill.

The cloaked teen soon reached the top and peered on the other side.

There, in the distance, she could see a lonely mound. And on that mound was a dark entrance.

A cave.

_He's in there. I just know it. And I'm going to drive him out._

The purple-haired girl cautiously floated towards the mysterious entrance.

She had almost reached the mound when…

"_ROAAAAAR !_"

The half-demon immediately came to a halt and frowned in direction of the darkness nestled in the cave.

He was coming.

No footsteps could be heard from within, but still, he was coming. She knew it.

And she was right : he emerged in full light before her.

The upper part of his body was an eagle's and the lower part a lion's. He had two huge wings and four powerful paws with sharp claws plus a long tail. His bulging eyes were aiming menacingly at the Titan watching him from below.

The two adversaries stared at each other for a moment, motionless and silent.

Finally, a loud, deep, raspy voice broke the thick silence.

"Who dares to invade Griffin's domain ?"

But although the tone was menacing, Raven didn't get impressed and she only narrowed her eyes more.

"Raven, from the Teen Titans."

The hybrid creature considered his opponent and it seemed that his eyes were throwing daggers at her.

"Whoever you may be, and wherever you come from, you've made a big mistake by venturing on this land. No one who did so has ever survived. And you'll be the next to regret your imprudence… but it will be too late then !"

Raven frowned more and her features gained some animosity that the Goth wasn't used to.

"Don't think you're impressing me or scaring me : you're not, absolutely not ! And if someone is to regret anything later, it will be you, not me !"

Griffin's eyes imperceptibly grew wider. He wasn't used to such boldness. Most of his victims had shown either fear or at least a sudden lack of self-confidence. But in a way or another, they had felt their inner strength diminish substantially when they had met with the monster living in that lair.

"Well, we'll see, really !" he finally managed to reply, after a thoughtful moment during which he tried to evaluate the power of his human enemy.

And with that said, he briskly shook his wings and this produced a massive air displacement moving extremely swiftly in Raven's direction.

The Titan noticed the wings' movement but couldn't be quicker than the invisible wave : she failed to dodge the attack and got cast backwards by the force of the blow.

Griffin had already taken off and flown his huge body above the sorceress. And so, as soon as the latter had stabilized her body again, she had to face another air assault, which she alas couldn't avoid.

The gigantic "windy slap" forcefully pushed her body down to the stony ground… and the graceful grey body hit the hard surface !

Griffin cackled contemptuously when he saw the frail human crash under him.

"See ? You're not measuring up ! Be reasonable and surrender while you still can ! If you do, I promise I won't make you suffer long : your death will be quick !"

The half-demon slowly and painfully rose from the ground and cast up a look that was more threatening than ever, her jaws contracted and her fists tightly clenched.

"Listen, Griffin : I said you didn't impress me, and you still don't, no matter what you do. So don't fancy that you'll deal away with me, for you won't : rather, I will defeat you and make you breathe your last breath. It will be that way, no other way !"

And as she shouted this, her glare intensified. Rage was burning with fury, deep within.

Raven lifted her arms and directed them at the stones in front of her. A few of them got wrapped in black energy and thrown at the hybrid foe.

Griffin dodged, but Rae had already prepared new projectiles, and the Guardian had to move swiftly again to avoid being hit.

The naughty being then opened his beak and let out a long scream.

"_ROAAAAAAR !_"

Raven found it strange : the upper part of the beast was an eagle's, but the shout of the Guardian was a lion's, thus matching the _lower_ part of its body. How come it wasn't an eagle's cry ?

But she didn't have to ponder it any longer, as she suddenly realized that concentric light blue circles left the beak and started at her. She moved aside quickly and avoided the blue waves just in time : a second or two later and she would have got struck by them.

Griffin took off towards her and went on emitting his round blue waves of energy, following her wherever she flew, never allowing her any respite.

The young sorceress used her powers to lift more stones and used these as shields against the magic attacks of her opponent. But it was becoming more and more challenging, as the monster could fly really fast and followed her closely, continuously aiming his shoots at her and never missing her by far.

The two fighters finally came to a halt, panting, and left their eyes stuck to the other as they were catching their breath.

"You're not bad… for a female !" Griffin said at last. "I haven't had such a gifted adversary in a long time. I like that difficulty. It will be all the more gratifying to be the winner."

The grey-skinned girl once again narrowed her eyes, her purple orbs filled with utter determination.

"Don't be so self-confident, Griffin. I've fought enemies much more powerful than you, and have been in far more perilous situations before… and yet I'm still here ! So you shouldn't count your chickens before they have hatched. I have as many chances as you to win that battle. And I know I will succeed eventually."

The Guardian's bulging eyes lit up with wrath when he heard that.

"You presumptuous little human ! You think you can defeat me ? Not in a hundred years ! I'll show you who's the strongest. And when all this is over, I'll have much pleasure shredding your frail body in billions of pieces and eat them all, day after day."

"That's what we'll see, ugly beast !"

Griffin felt himself fume for good and his eyes showed even bigger threat.

He stood up, resting on his two rear paws and gestured his front paws in direction of the Goth.

From his claws emerged shiny identical shapes, looking like light claws, and these flew fast towards Raven, who rapidly floated aside.

Griffin gestured frantically with both paws, sending countless light missiles to his adversary, and Rae did her best to dodge all of them.

But things got trickier when he added his blue waves : she now had to dodge both the shiny projectiles _and_ the round magic circles. So she flew incessantly in the grey sky, using stones to block the shoots and even her magic, which she shaped as a black shield. But Griffin took off and flew towards her, trying to bypass the energy shield.

Raven always made sure to face the foe, leaving her magic protection between him and her, but she had to turn around all the time, as he was flying rapidly this way and that way and never stopped trying to attack from the rear.

Griffin then used his third attack, the powerful gust of wind induced by his great wings, while he was launching blue waves and shiny claws.

But although the empath did her best to counter or block all attacks, the Guardian managed to get to her with an unexpected feint that mislead her about his intentions.

And the next minute, the sorceress was badly hurt by a wave, before the claw-missiles sank into her skin. The winged fighter then combined both attacks with a powerful tornado created by his wings… and the dark Titan screamed, before collapsing fast to the ground, where she crashed heavily !

The cloaked one remained on the stones, knocked out, her eyes shut, a wince of pain haunting her features. She really didn't feel well and wasn't sure she would have been able to get up anyway.

Could she have something broken ?

Griffin rushed down and landed right above her. The next minute, his long tail curled around the Azarathian's neck and tightened up.

Raven put her hands to her neck and seized the tail, trying to loosen it somehow. But she couldn't, and the large paws of the beast pinned her down.

"There. See, you can't move anymore. You are helpless and I will now kill you. Just as I said I would."

"Tell me…one thing… before killing me…"

He snorted, his despising look set on her restless eyes.

"Well, since I'm going to kill you, I guess I can accept to give you one last answer. That'll be the last thing you'll ever hear. **(A/N : taken almost word for word from the episode AFTERSHOCK part 2, where Raven said it to Terra, except that the verb was "do" and not "hear") **So, what's your question ?"

Raven gulped with difficulty, the tail still squeezed firmly around her neck, waiting for the final strangulation.

"Why… why did you… accept… to follow Fraktal ?"

She shook her head to the side, as if she was trying to free herself from the tail's grasp, but it was a feint and she in fact seized this occasion to quickly spot the surroundings, before looking back at her foe.

"So you want to know what motivates me, mmmh ? Let's see…"

Griffin paused, and while he was preparing his speech, she discretely let out black energy from her right hand, which the Guardian didn't have in his visual field.

A very large rock got wrapped in that black energy and silently rose from the ground, behind both fighters.

"Fraktal has shown us that, if we unite our powers, we can bring chaos on this planet. All we need to do is take down all superheroes protecting it, then we can impose our will to all earthlings, forcing them to do our bidding."

Raven looked at him the whole time, to make believe she was entirely focused on what he said, but her energy was in fact at work on the stone : it had silently changed the shape of the boulder, turning it into something far more dangerous.

"We will first eliminate all the Titans, West and East, then crush all the other defenders of Good, one by one. Slowly but surely, we'll murder all of the heroes, and then nobody will stand in our way anymore. We will have won, and under the lead of Fraktal, we will rule this planet. And we can then start thinking of conquering other planets. With our tremendous might, we will be able to get rid of all our adversaries, no matter their strength."

The weapon was ready.

It only needed to be used, now.

Griffin smirked cruelly.

"And now that I've answered your final question, it's time for you to die. Any last words, poor Titan ?"

The empath nodded, but immediately gestured towards her neck, pretending to be suffocating.

The hybrid creature loosened a bit the grip of his tail to enable her to talk and pronounce her final words.

Raven quickly breathed deeply, several times, then looked at her enemy and…

"Yes. About my last words, there they are : _**AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS !**_"

She had screamed the sequence of magical words rapidly, and Griffin didn't really got time to realize what was happening.

But a few seconds later, he understood that he had in fact lost… when a terrible pain bore his chest, which had just got pierced in its middle by an enormous knife-shaped boulder !

The Dark Magician had focused her powers so that the big rock, that her energy had shaped into a knife-looking weapon, would drill Griffin's body _right_ where his heart was ! And she had perfectly succeeded : the horrible eagle-lion animal had his heart impaled on the gigantic mineral dagger, and the unbearable pain that was stemming from the immense wound left no doubt as to the imminent death of the mythological creature.

"No… no… this can't be…I can't…die… no… not me…it should… be you…" he uttered with the greatest difficulty.

She smiled weakly.

"I told you I would defeat you…"

The Guardian felt a new, unknown taste in his mouth and, the next minute, he spat a mouthful of blood.

Strength was retreating from his body, slowly but surely, and he soon would be completely void of it.

"I…can't… believe…" he started, but couldn't finish his sentence and collapsed on his side.

Raven didn't move. She couldn't, as she felt weak after crashing on the stones short before. It was clear that she would need some healing time before moving on to the next Guardian.

Griffin was breathing slowly, with much effort, in deep inhaling. He knew it was the end for him. He had underestimated her, and paid the highest price for that.

Rae turned her head to the side, to watch him live his last moment, and she saw him close his eyes.

For good.

It was finished. The last spark of life had left the cross-bred body. And as a result…

Raven's eyes widened a bit as she saw the corpse disappearing progressively, as two shimmering bolts started from both ends and slowly "devoured" the dead organism, and the more they advanced, the more the body vanished.

Soon, the bolts met with each other and merged. A flash took place and then…

There it was !

The glittering elemental particle was floating before the Goth's eyes.

It was the aura of the Guardian, a blue shiny blob whose shape was constantly changing as it hovered. The essence of its body, which controlled the magical barrier set around one of the Keepers.

Raven motioned her hand in direction of the aura and her eyes glowed white.

"Karimat Helia !"

And joining gesture to word, she pointed her finger to the aura and then to the direction she had arrived from. That way, she was magically sending the aura to the Subterraneas portal where Robin would see it come out and then only have to transfer it to Limbo thanks to the power she had given him.

The blue blob quickly floated away, soon disappearing far away, where Raven had come from initially.

The sorceress then rested her head, eyes closed, doing her best to ignore the widespread pain paralyzing her body.

Then she focused her mind and opened the telepathic link.

_Robin ! Can you hear me ?_

There were a few seconds of silence. And then…

_Yes, Rae ! How are you ? How is your quest progressing ?_

_I just defeated the first Guardian, Griffin, and sent his aura to the portal of Subterraneas. It should be emerging from there any minute. It looks like a shiny blue shape constantly changing in its outline. You then will have to stretch both arms towards it and then direct them to the black portal, Limbo. The aura will follow your move and enter that world. If you have any problem with the transfer, do not hesitate to contact me._

There was another pause. Then Robin couldn't hold back another question.

_And how are you, Rae ? I mean, your physical condition ? The battle wasn't too tough ? Did you get injured ?_

The empath smiled. Her friend was visibly worried for her.

_Well, honestly, I was a tad injured, yes. But I'll be okay, Robin, don't worry ! All I need to do is rest for a while and let the healing process remove any pain or wound. Then I'll be in top condition again. No big deal, really._

_Please be careful, Raven ! And tell me if you get in serious trouble. Maybe I could come help you and then get back to the Vault for the aura transfer…_

The dark Titan smiled again, her eyes still closed. He was so nice, so caring…

_No, don't you be anxious, Rob : I'll be fine, really. Trust me. I can't avoid being injured sometimes, but I always manage to recover, thanks to my healing powers. I'll be alright, really. But thank you very much for your concern. I do appreciate. A lot._

She felt warmth wrap her face after uttering the final two words.

_Alright. But please, Rae… please be very careful, okay ?_

Her heart was beating faster now.

_I will. Thank you, Robin. We'll talk later. I'll be resting and healing myself now._

_Okay. Take care, Rae !_

And with that, their telepathic exchange came to its end.

The half-demon recited a powerful recovery spell and purple aura formed around her.

All she needed was a bit of time.

Just that and she would soon be in good condition again, and ready for the next fight waiting ahead.

The most powerful of the Titan lay there, on the stony ground, on her own, her defenseless body slowly regaining its strength…

It had been a tough fight, yes…

And this was only the beginning !

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**At laaaast !**

**What difficulty did I have to complete that chapter ! But it's finally done ! Phiew ! *wipes sweat from forehead***

**So, for your info, Griffin does exist : it's really a mythological creature ( I mentioned the word "mythological" somewhere in the chapter) and really a half-eagle (upper body) half-lion (lower body) creature. Look it up on Wikipedia. As for his attacks… those are my own inventions, yup ! I just LOVE mythology, so… ;)**

**And I end up with sending my most caring thoughts to the victims of the tornado in Oklahoma City. Another drama in the USA… the fifth one ****at least**** in a month ! Who is the (censored) who cast a bad spell on the States ? Seriously, I hate hearing/reading abt all those misfortunes/hardships/catastrophes ! =(((**

**Now…**

**I do hope my next chapter won't take that much time… but alas, one often doesn't do what one wants, so…**

**Take care, Mates, and all the best ! Oh, and please update yr stories asap ! I do miss yr stuff so much… ;D**

**Be as happy as ya can possibly be, Folks, and keep yr faith in life, no matter what !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**

**(Oceania)**


	7. Gluttony

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Alright, so here is what you get when you work hard and well for your company : you get DEmoted instead of PROmoted…! Unfair, did ya say ? You bet ! But since I'm a pretty resilient folk, I'll once again grit my teeth and smile anyway, ignore the bitter aftertaste in my mouth. But will I give 100% of myself into work, from now on ? Given the "reward", I'll say… not so sure ! Damn unfair bosses ! Ah well…**

**Okay, so as usual, my gratitude to Ana and Sammy for their constant reviews, and welcome to the fanclub to Azerly and…Ravenandbb4ever ! The latter is one of my fav's and therefore one of the dedicatees of this story, so I'm more than happy that she starts following the story I wrote for her and the other five. Always more fans… just awesome !**

**And all my kindest vibes to those who have started "refreshing" the MBC archive with brand new stories. It was about time, since there hadn't been anything new for quite some time. So yeah, Big Up to the "renewers" ! :D**

**Where was I again ? Oh yes, here :**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

"**Gluttony is an emotional escape, a sign something is eating us."**** - ****Peter De Vries**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**8.6**** */*/*/* ****GLUTTONY**** */*/*/* ****8.6**

What a great landscape that was !

A splendid countryside filled with so much greenery : trees, bushes, flowers…

A river nicely meandering in the ocean of green stretching in all directions towards the horizon.

A "sunflood" gently warming up animals, who found it so pleasing to rest in the grass, under this caressing sun.

And of course, nature was filled with birds' chirps, a very pleasing "music" to the ears.

Everything in the surroundings invited the lonely walker to the joy of senses, everything was so agreeable and soothing.

In this peaceful and harmonious landscape, human laughter was in its right place, as a part of the overall harmony.

More precisely, the laughs of two girls who were moving slowly through Nature's welcoming lands. But they were not walking, like people usually do : they were _floating_ !

One had red hair, green eyes and wore a purple uniform, the other one had grey skin and a black leotard which was hidden under a pink cloak.

"Ah ah ah ! You really are so funny, Happy !" shrilled Starfire.

The grinning emoticlone laughed on.

"And so are you, Starfire !" Happy complimented back. "I've always got along just fine with you. Or should I say : Raven has always got along fine with you thanks to me !"

The Tamaranean nodded.

"Yes, it is true ! Friend Raven and me are very different, but we became good buddies with time passing by. I speak and laugh a lot, but she doesn't say much and rarely laugh. So, at first, because of these differences, I didn't think I could get along with her, and I do think that maybe she felt the same about me. That I was too loud and too cheery for her. And we could have kept our distances, staying simple teammates…"

Star recalled the events which had enabled the bonding between the Goth and herself.

"But then, there was this adventure with the switching of the bodies, between her and me. And she at first was grumpy… but then we discussed, and she told me more about her, and I told her more about me, so we could know how we functioned… and we meditated, later on… and so, we finally became more than just teammates : we became friends with each other. And it was… hum, cool ?"

The alien girl hesitated as she asked the last word more than she actually pronounced it.

Happy laughed wholeheartedly.

"Ah ah, yup, it was cool, as you say ! I had always enjoyed your company, but our Master kind of stifled my "voice", as she behaved and thought so differently from you. It was only when you switched body with her that it changed, and the distance existing between you and her diminished a lot. That switching of bodies was so fun, by the way !"

The extravert emoticlone guffawed once more at the recall of that bizarre adventure of theirs.

Something had drawn Starfire's attention in the speech of her interlocutor.

"Happy, why do you call friend Raven "Master" ? It sounds like you are a servant of some sort…"

The Pink Cloak smiled on as she replied.

"Well, Raven is our Master. She leads me and the other emotions, and decides if she will grant us "room" to express ourselves or if she will confine some of us, "stifle" us like I said before. But "Master" is a term of respect that all of us emotions use for Raven. It doesn't imply that we are her slaves or so, but rather that we belong to her and that we have to listen to her directions."

And immediately after ending her utterance, Happy quickly added :

"God, I start to sound like Knowledge, with all that intellectual blah blah !"

After which the cheery girl winked to Star and chuckled, the Tamaranean soon imitating her.

"Tell me, Happy" the red-haired alien then began "what do you think the Keeper looks like, in this world ? A wizard with a cape ? A powerful fighter ? A monster ?"

Happy pondered this, her forefinger set on her chin, eyes raised to the blue sunny sky.

"Mmmmh… Waow, that's a complex question ! Not a clue, really ! But hey, we'll know soon enough what he's like…that is, if we know _where_ to find him in here !"

"Yes, you're right. We have to find him first. I wonder where he is. And there is nobody here to help us with the finding of him."

The emoticlone couldn't help laughing lightly at this.

Star stared at her, somewhat puzzled.

"Did I say anything funny ?"

Happy smiled nicely at her.

"Well, the way you phrase some of your sentences is amusing. Because English is not your native language. I'm not making fun of you, Star, mind you : I'm laughing _with_ you, not _at _you ! No hard feelings, right ?"

"Ah yes, I get it ! It's okay, no hard feelings, like you said. I know I speak differently than you do, and that you're not completely used to it. And also that you're not laughing at me."

The extravert emotion nodded.

"Thanks for being comprehensive, Starfire. And God, why do I have to sound so much like Knowledge today, using such complicated words as "comprehensive" here or "phrase" before ? Am I becoming intelligent at last, or what ?"

This made both the green-eyed alien and herself burst out laughing once again.

But they suddenly stopped as they noticed a radical change in the landscape.

Both girls came to a halt and looked around them with wide eyes, their sense of humor on standby.

They couldn't believe the complete modification the surroundings had undergone.

Around them, everything had lost its normal aspect to be replaced by…

"Food ! Food everywhere !" stated Happy.

"But how is that possible ?" asked a bewildered Starfire.

The road before them had turned brown, as it was now an endless chocolate bar, stretching as far as the eye could see. The trees were from now on made of cotton candy. The river flowing on the right had turned pink, as it now consisted of strawberry syrup. The flowers had become edible as they had been replaced by marshmallow replicas. And the grass itself could henceforth be eaten, being presently made of a multitude of mint blades.

"But what the heck…?" questioned Happy, phrasing aloud her thought rather than asking the question to her companion, who anyway couldn't obviously supply the answer.

The ingenuous Titan bent down and picked up a flower, which she cautiously started to eat, unsure that it definitely would be safe (after all, a candy-looking stuff can technically still be poisoned or contain any other nefarious substance).

"Mmmmmmh, it's delicious !" screamed Starfire. "Do you want to taste ?"

Happy looked thoughtful.

"Hum, no, thanks ! I'm wondering _how_ the change happened. And _why_."

They still were looking around them, and that's when the hyper Titan noticed a new element in the landscape.

"Oh, look, Happy ! Over there ! There's someone !"

The grey-skinned one looked where her friend was pointing and indeed saw a large figure in a distance, sitting under a tree and apparently eating, as far as the girls could tell from where they were.

"I'll go ask him if he knows where we can find the Keeper" announced Star.

And with that, she swiftly floated away, towards the stranger.

The smile of the cheery emoticlone suddenly vanished as a thought emerged in her head. It hit her that while Starfire thought that the mysterious person could help them locate the Keeper, she may be wrong, and that the stranger she wanted to get help from could actually be…

"No, wait, Starfire !" called Happy, flying quickly after the ingenuous alien.

But it was too late : the latter had already landed in front of the lonely eating being **(A/N : nice rhyming, uh ? XD) **and started asking her question : "Hello, we are looking for a Keeper ! Could you…?"

"Star, WAIT !" screamed Happy, louder, as she was urging towards her friend.

The Teen Titan turned around to take a look at her cloaked partner, thus drawing her attention away from the lonesome eater, and…

…she felt a sharp pain in her chest, then let out a cry of pain and collapsed on the side !

Happy landed by her side and put herself in front of her hurt friend, her usual joyous grin replaced by a menacing smirk while she frowned at the enemy.

The stranger, who had stopped eating upon Starfire's arrival and had cast an attack at the red-haired girl while she was busy looking at the grey-skinned girl, snorted when he saw this.

"You want to be hurt badly, like your buddy ?" he threatened.

"Just try and we'll see who hurts who…" retorted the emoticlone.

"We'll see, really !" he mockingly let out, and he grunted loud before opening his mouth and releasing a pink spurt from it.

Happy had anticipated his new attack and dodged it before using her black energy to remove a big rock from the ground and project it at the foe.

But the mineral projectile didn't reach its target : instead, it crashed against some invisible barrier and fell down a short distance from the bad guy.

When she saw that, the Pink Cloak knew she had guessed right when she had tried to warn Starfire, asking her to wait instead of talking to the mysterious figure : she had sensed that the latter, whom the Tamaranean wanted to ask about the Keeper, may in fact _be _ the Keeper _himself_ !

And the fact that there was an invisible obstacle blocking the path to the enemy confirmed this intuition : it was the barrier set around the Keeper and controlled by the aura of a Guardian, in the Subterraneas !

Happy kneeled down by Starfire, her look still on their foe.

"Starfire… are you okay ?"

The addressee of this question winced but managed to sit and give her friend a comforting look.

"I'll be alright. But he attacked me from behind ! Such a treacherous behaviour ! But why did he do that ?"

Happy smiled wider when she saw her companion feeling apparently better, but she kept an eye on their common adversary.

"That's because he is the Keeper ! Isn't it, Big Pig ?"

She had uttered that insult because the attacker indeed had a pig's head over what seemed, at first sight, a man's body. But his arms and feet were pink as well, which suggested that his _whole_ body was a pig's. It therefore looked like a hog able to remain upright, in standing position, like a human.

"Indeed. I am Gluttony and you are in my domain, where you have nothing to do. I will therefore have to kill you. And then, I will eat your corpses."

Happy had healed Starfire, as all emoticlones had that power, just as their Master, and the green-eyed alien felt that she was back in good condition.

"No, you will not !" screamed the latter. "We will fight you and beat you !"

"Quite so !" confirmed the Pink Cloak. "Ready for defeat, Gluttony ?"

The huge Pig snorted loudly, his eyes narrowing.

"Ready for **your** defeat ! And now, let's fight for good ! Get this !"

And the Pig let out from his snout's nostrils a big blue matter which wrapped around the two girls in no time.

"What is that ?" asked a baffled Happy.

Starfire had already taken some of it in her mouth.

"Cotton candy !" she exclaimed, beaming. "Mmmmh, it's so good !"

"Alright, but we're prisoners from it, so it's not exactly time for a tasting session !" pertinently pointed out the emoticlone.

Gluttony came nearer.

"Actually, it _is_ time for a tasting session : _I_ will taste you as I eat all of your bodies. What a nice way to end your life : to end up as food, the very support of life ! Ah ah ah !"

Star's eyes shone bright and she directed the green ray down to the blue sugary cocoon keeping her still.

The ray made its way through the cotton candy, freeing instantly the Titan.

And on her side, Happy had already let out the three magic words, which enabled a black sphere to form around her body, thus making the blue cocoon explode.

Both fighters were free again.

"Well done !" said Gluttony. "But you're not through yet !"

He opened his mouth and a brown spiraling ray came out of it, aiming at the girls.

Both moved to avoid it and Star cast her bolts at the Keeper. But, just like before, they hit an invisible barrier.

The brown spiral moved swiftly and the two allies had to swiftly fly away to avoid getting caught. They hid behind a large rock made of sugar candy.

"I couldn't touch him !" the Tamaranean said.

"That's because of his barrier. We need the aura which will delete that barrier. I'll contact Master about it."

And the Pink Cloak quickly focused and sent her telepathic message.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Raven opened her eyes, only to find herself resting on cold stones, in a deserted place.

She sat up and looked in front of her.

To her surprise, she noticed that the mound where the Guardian's lair was set had completely vanished.

At the exact place where that mound was located, there was nothing but a bed of pebbles. As if, by vanquishing Griffin, Raven had also destroyed his "home"…

But there also was something else. Something new.

A portal.

It had appeared right where the monster's lair used to be. And it seemed obvious to Rae that it led to the next Guardian.

The Dark Titan got up and started to float towards the new entryway that had been created… or revealed, after the mound had disappeared.

That's when she felt something inside her head.

A voice.

_Master, it's Happy ! Can you hear me ?_

The Azarathian focused her inner strength and replied.

_Yes, Happy, I can hear you. What is the matter ?_

There was a short break before the answer followed.

_Star and I are fighting a pig monster called Gluttony. But we can't reach him because there still is his barrier around him. Can you please let me know if you already defeated the Guardian and sent the aura ?_

_Yes, Happy, I did win, and dispatched the aura to the Vault. I will check with Robin. But I guess the aura should be at your end really soon. Stay alert._

_Thank you for your help, Master. We will wait, and contact you if the aura hasn't arrived here in a moment._

_Good luck, Happy ! You and Starfire !_

_Thank you, Master. Back at you !_

Raven ended the telepathic communication with a smile on her lips. Happy really had to make her smile. _Back at you !_ That was really unexpected… and funny ! She liked Happy for that : the amusing moments she created !

And after all, if it wasn't for her cheery emoticlone, she would be dull and creepy ALL the time. So she definitely owed Happy her nicest moments.

Raven focused her mind again to open another telepathic link.

And she soon released her thought to the addressee.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Robin was still lost in thought when it happened.

He had just raised his head and was staring dreamily at the other side of the Vault…

…when a movement dragged his attention, on the left side.

There was something moving in the frame of the grey portal. Something that was floating and revolving on itself.

The leader got up and slowly walked to the grey portal, his eyes glued to the new element that had just shown up.

He finally stopped in front of the shiny blue blob which floated and continuously changed shape.

Could that be…?

And that's when he heard it.

_Robin ! It's Rae ! Can you hear me ?_

_Rae ! How are you ? Better, now ? I hope you are !_

_Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you for your concern. Tell me, did you receive the aura through the Subterraneas portal ?_

_Does it look like a blue shape constantly changing ?_

_Yes ! That's it ! It's inside the portal right now ?_

_Indeed. It just arrived here._

_Perfect ! You'll now have to focus hard and stretch your arms towards the aura, then move your arms towards the Limbo portal. The aura will follow your movement and arrive to the other side. And once it is in the black portal's frame, it will enter Limbo and fly by itself to the corresponding Keeper._

_Alright. I will do that. But Rae… How are you ? Is your body in good condition again ? Could you heal yourself completely ?_

He couldn't know it, of course, but at the other end, Raven felt a wave of tenderness overwhelm her, as she realized he was worried about her… and had been worrying all the way. And this moved her. A lot.

_Thank you so much for your kind concern, Rob. And don't you be anxious about me : I'm perfectly fit again, now. And ready for the second battle. I appreciate your caring for me. And you, how are you, tell me ?_

_I'm okay. Although I'd prefer being by your side, helping you fight the Guardians. I hate the idea of being forced to stay here while you're struggling hard against monsters. You shouldn't have to do it all by yourself. I should be helping you. And this frustrates me, as you can certainly sense now._

_Yes, I do feel frustration in your personal psyche. And I'm sorry you can't help me. And thank you, once again. _(a short break) _Now, please help the aura fly through the Vault, and contact me if there are any problems. Okay ?_

_Okay._

Robin took a few steps back stretched his arms in direction of the aura and opened his hands.

Then he let his arms move to the right and stopped them when they were facing the black portal.

The shiny blue blob obediently followed the direction and soon reached the darker entrance. Then it stopped inside the black frame and…

_Everything okay, Rob ?_

_Yes, Rae. The aura has just disappeared inside Limbo. It's done. Thank you for your help !_

_No : thank YOU, Robin ! Thank you for your invaluable help ! And for your care !_

_You're welcome. It's natural. You are my good friend, Raven. And I like you. I…I mean… I like you like I do all my friends._

_I like you too, Robin. As a very good friend. Very good, yes…_

A short break again. Hot faces. Saliva swallowed, on both sides.

_Look, Robin, I… have to go. For the lair of the second Guardian. Take good care of you and… and we'll talk later, right ?_

_Right. And please, Raven… please… be very careful ! And contact me if need be, okay ?_

_I will. Thank you, Rob. For…everything._

_You deserve it, Rae…_

Then the telepathic link ended and Robin remained there, standing in the middle of the Vault, his heart beating fast, his body experiencing unusual warmth… and a curious tingling teasing his stomach.

Maybe some butterflies flying in there ?

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Starfire quickly flew away, dodging another attack from the monster.

She cast another star bolt at him, but it crashed against the invisible barrier.

"It's still on !" she squealed. "Did Friend Raven tell you when the aura would be here ?"

The cloaked teen quickly looked at her companion after avoiding Gluttony's brown spurt.

"She said it was on its way. It should be here soon. But the sooner the better, yes."

Just as she finished her utterance, the Pig made an unexpected move before launching its brown spurt and the latter hit the Tamaranean, who this time hadn't been swift enough in her avoiding gesture.

The arm of the green-eyed alien became all brown. It actually resembled…

"There ! Your arm has turned into chocolate ! Yummy !" yelled Gluttony.

And he opened his mouth wider, giving way to his dark pink tongue, which stretched on and on, wrapped around the now edible arm of Starfire, pulled hard and…

"AAAAAAHHHHH !" screamed Star, a horrible pain pulsating throughout her body.

The monster had broken her arm away from the body and brought it back to its greedy mouth. He began chewing it, a satisfied expression plastered on his features.

"My…my arm !" shouted the Titan, holding the stump having replaced her arm.

The Guardian started to laugh loudly.

"Ah ah ah ! Serves you right, girl ! And this is just the beginning ! I'll transform all of your body into chocolate… or maybe into candy… and devour you completely !"

Happy finally had lost her smirk, that she had kept on all the time up to then.

"You'll pay for that, Gluttony ! I swear you'll pay !"

"Oh yeah ?" the Keeper scorned. "Make me !"

Just then, an unidentified flying object **(A/N : yup, that's a UFO indeed ! ;P)** appeared in a distance and headed towards the Pig, as if magnetized by him.

The enemy hadn't seen anything yet.

The object closed in fast.

Starfire and Happy just had the time to realize it was a blue and shining stuff…

…before that stuff hit the invisible barrier !

There were sparkles and a loud booming sound… and finally an explosion !

"My barrier !" hollered the voracious being. "It's destroyed !"

And just when he finally snapped out of his stare and looked up, he received a dark energy ball straight in his face !

"OUCH !" he screamed, a mix of pain and fury now inhabiting him.

"That's for hurting Starfire !" screamed the Pink Cloak, the smirk back on her face, as she frowned on. "And be ready for more !"

She cast dark missiles, and the Keeper began moving this way and that way, but he still got caught a few times.

Busy as he was, trying to avoid Happy's assaults, he didn't see Starfire gesturing towards him. And when he realized something was coming his way, it was already too late !

The star bolt reached his face, just like the dark ball cast before by her teammate, and the Keeper howled as loud as he could.

When he removed his hands from his face, there was a mad stare haunting his globes. A _lethal_ stare.

"I will kill you ! I will kill you and eat you !"

Happy snorted.

"Oh yes, really ? Well, I'd be curious to see how…AAAAAAHHHH !"

The Pig had counter-attacked so quickly that the emoticlone hadn't had time to do anything to protect herself.

This time, the humanoid beast had cast her enemy some green liquid. And the latter was now burning Happy's leg.

"Oh my gOOOOD ! It hUUUrts !" shouted the grey-skinned one.

"Isn't it ?" proudly exclaimed Gluttony. "And you know what that is ? My gastric juice ! It's now attacking your skin, and will burn you continuously ! Now get this !"

He started launching several attacks, which the cheery emotion dodged… save for one, which hit her left arm.

"AAAAAAHHHHH !" yelled the cloaked girl.

"HAPPY !" Star screamed on top of her lungs.

The Pink Cloak quickly flew down and hid behind a large rock, just to leave herself time to deal with her burning wounds.

The Tamaranean felt a tidal wave of wrath submerge her mind and heart.

"You will regret doing that to my Friend !" she shouted angrily.

And the next minute she dived down and let the green rays leave her mad eyes.

Gluttony, who wasn't expecting an eye raid, and therefore wasn't prepared for that new kind of attack, couldn't move fast enough to avoid the rays.

The face of the Pig started to release smoke, as the pink flesh was blazed from the powerful rays.

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH !"

"I will never let you harm my friends ! Never !" shouted the usually ingenuous, now livid alien.

But Gluttony wasn't down yet, and he released another sudden attack, which reached Star's leg, before the girl could move to avoid it.

The leg turned into a large candy.

And the very next minute, the monster's tongue tore that candy apart from the body, yielding a deafening yell from the Tamaranean.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH !"

The young extraterrestrial was gritting her teeth hard, as tears appeared in the corners of her eyes. The pain was so intense that it made her cry.

"You maybe disfigured me, but be sure I'll dismember you limb after limb to make you pay for that. Get ready to die, female !" shouted a mad Pig.

"Never…never…" painfully enunciated the Titan.

The monster roared with laughter once again.

"And now, I'll suck you up and let my gastric juice digest you. Say hello to Satan for me !"

The Keeper's mouth opened wider…and wider…and wider ! And indeed, an in-draught started, meant to drag her inside.

Starfire tried to fly away but she didn't move much, the fatal attraction preventing her from getting away from her actual place.

"No ! Noooo !" screamed Starfire.

She didn't manage to make it.

She couldn't resist.

And started to dread that it could be the end…

But suddenly she heard something below her.

Three words.

And the next second, Happy was springing up from behind her rock, a large ball of dark energy concentrated in her hands.

"Here is for you !" loudly exclaimed the emoticlone.

And she cast her magical weapon at the Keeper.

Gluttony was surprised, but while he would have just enough time to move off in order to dodge the round black missile, he still decided to stick to his base. He felt he could absorb her ball in his enormous belly. She wouldn't get him. No way. Not a _female_.

The dark energy sphere got stuck in the gaping mouth of the Pig.

That's when Happy swiftly jerked her head to Starfire.

"Star, please, cast a huge star bolt on my energy ball ! Quick !"

The red-haired one nodded and rapidly gathered a large green orb in her remaining hand, which she cast towards the enemy.

The bolt powerfully hit the black ball…and the latter briskly disappeared inside the monster !

"He…he has swallowed it !" exclaimed Star.

"Yes… and that's what I wanted !" replied Happy, smiling again after a long period of seriousness.

And immediately after saying so, she stretched her arms in direction of Gluttony and uttered her sacred words.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !"

At first, nothing seemed to occur. The beast wasn't attacked by any magical force. Things apparently remained unchanged.

But then…

"What… what is happening ?!" let out a very anxious Keeper.

His belly was swelling and swelling, gradually, and it now looked like he had a large sphere in place of a regular abdomen.

"What did you do to me ?!" screamed the Pig.

Happy snorted.

"I trapped you. And now, Gluttony… _AU REVOIR _!"

The Pink Cloak then shouted her three words once again, louder this time, and the body's swelling accelerated instantly, always more, more, more, until…

A loud BANG was heard throughout that sunny world of Subterraneas, as the greedy body exploded in billions of pieces, which landed a bit everywhere !

"You defeated him ! You won, Happy !" shrilled a hyper Starfire.

Her cloaked companion grinned as wide as she could.

"Did you ever doubt that, Star ? Now, give me five !"

Both female fighters then high-fived, smiling brightly.

Then the Titan spotted something on her companion.

"But your body… it's burned here and here (she pointed at the places) from his green juice !"

The enthusiastic emotion took a look at her wounds.

"Oh, don't worry : I'll live !"

And both guffawed.

"Oh, look !" exclaimed the purple-dressed alien.

She was pointing her finger at her friend's body.

Happy directed her purple eyes below… and almost gasped !

The wounds inflicted by Gluttony's gastric juice were vanishing slowly from the grey skin !

And a few seconds later, the limbs of the emoticlone were intact again. As if nothing.

"I guess it's related to Gluttony's death…" explained the Pink Cloak. "Oh, look ! Your body, Star !"

And sure enough, the missing limbs of the Tamaranean were gradually reappearing, out of thin air.

A few seconds later, the Titan was complete again, in perfect shape.

"YAY ! We're just like we used to be ! It is a miracle !" chirped the alien.

"We have made it, Starfire ! We have won ! The first Keeper has been defeated ! It's just the beginning, but still, it's encouraging, no ? Big Up for the Titans and the Emoticlones ! Ah ah ah !"

"It is encouraging, yes !" conceded the alien on a joyous tone. "Oh, look ! The landscape !"

The surroundings, which had been turned into food when the greedy monster had appeared, were now gradually getting back to normal. No more cotton candy, chocolate or caramel around them. Just plain trees, bushes, river, road.

But there was more…

"There's something, over there !" let out the red-haired girl.

She was pointing at a pink flame, which was levitating right where the Keeper had been standing right before his death.

"Could it be Gluttony's vital energy ?" suggested Happy.

Just then the flame rose higher, then parted in two and both parts flew away in opposite directions.

They soon were out of sight on two antipodal lines of horizon.

"Why did it cut it two ? And where are the two parts going ?" asked the Titan.

"Not a clue, Star, not a clue…" replied the emoticlone, perplexed.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

A light green portal.

Set in a mysterious place.

And around that portal, eight circles of different colours. Eight force fields protecting the access to the portal.

And nobody in this vicinity. Absolutely no one. Therefore, no movement.

No movement, yes… until…

A tiny pink flame emerged from the darkness. The half of the Vital Core of the Keeper Gluttony.

The flame floated to the eight force fields and slowed down right in front of the most external coloured circle, which was pink.

The pink flickering flame touched the pink circumference.

Void appeared at the exact spot of the contact.

And started to develop, growing bigger and bigger, slowly making the colour diminish, on and on, until the void had deleted the colour completely.

The pink circle had disappeared, leaving now seven other similar circumferences of various tints.

Everything was now back to normal in the mysterious place.

But an evil thought was lurking around the place, God knows where it originated from…

_Not bad for a start, Raven ! Not bad at all ! But this is just the beginning ! You'll have to do far more, and far better. Good luck, Azarath daughter…_

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

They were stuffing themselves with all kinds of food. Devouring anything edible they could find. Eating up pounds and pounds of various nourishment.

And they didn't seem like they would give it a rest anytime soon.

Those gluttonous people had already hurt many policemen before and even killed two of them. And the police had finally retreated for a while, in order to know how they could contain those half-demented folks.

But where was the long-waited police backup ?

Where on Earth ?

"I've just called them back" stated superintendent Moser. "They say that the reinforcement units are on their way."

"Let's hope that, with their help, we'll be able to control the whole mess…" lieutenant Heathfield let out in a sigh.

"You said it, Victor. Now-"

But the chief interrupted his own speech, as he had spotted something behind Heathfield.

The young man was about to ask what the matter was, but reconsidered it and rather turned around to check it out by himself.

And his eyes widened while his jaw dropped.

A tiny pink flame was floating towards the frenetic devourers.

Both men observed silently, wondering what the heck was that flame.

The latter stopped close to the group of gluttons, who watched that pink flickering flame, wondering what it was doing right under their noses.

And that's when it took place.

Out of all the bodies came out pink rays which targeted the flame and quickly sunk into it.

The flame abruptly swelled, growing bigger and bigger in a wink.

Then it began to shine, its glint turning to dazzling in no time.

And it finally evaporated into thin air with a _WOOSH_ !

Everything was dead quiet afterwards.

Nobody uttered any single word.

But a patent change could now be noticed.

All the gluttons were now looking at each other, then at the food they had in both hands, then at all the greasy stains covering their clothes, and finally at the diverse foodstuff laid on the floor, waiting for them to stuff down their throats with utter haste.

And all of them visibly looked shocked by what they saw. Some were even scratching their heads, their perplexed looks wandering around them, to try and figure out what had been occurring in that place.

And, at last, everyone threw away or dropped the food and wiped their mouth clean.

The policemen finally saw all their fellow citizens come to them, a stupefied expression plastered on everyone's features.

"Good evening ! Can… can you tell us… what happened ?" one of them hesitantly phrased.

Heathfield and Moser exchanged dazed looks and then stared back at the group which, a few minutes ago, was lost in a greed trance, paying attention to nothing else than food.

"You… you don't remember anything ?" asked the superintendent, visibly baffled.

"No, I don't…" replied the man.

"Me neither !" added another one.

"And neither do I !" exclaimed a third one.

The policemen remained silent for a few seconds, then Heathfield spoke up.

"It's as if you had forgotten everything. An amnesia of some sort. Strange…"

"Yes, but you saw what happened, didn't you ?" asked a woman.

"Well, everything we saw was all of you breaking in that bakery, stealing cakes and pastries and wolfing them down your throats, one after the other. You had turned into gluttons. But we ignore the exact reason why. You really have no memory of it ?"

"Apparently not…" a teenager said.

"Why did we do that ?" wondered a kid.

"Nobody knows, it seems…" concluded a mature man in three-piece suit, the latter being all stained by chocolate cake.

There was an uneasy silence, as people realized that no one would be able to explain the precise origin of their sudden excesses.

Then the superintendent spoke up.

"Listen, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we will never be able to understand that mystery. I therefore suggest you all head back home and grant it no further importance. What really matters is that things came back to normal here. We don't know how this got solved, but it did get solved, and that's the main point. So please get back home and have some rest ! We'll ensure the cleaning of the area."

After a while, all the people had left, after thanking the policemen and wishing them good night.

"They have been… "cured" from their insatiable greed after that pink flame showed up. I wonder what that flame was and where it came from…" said Heathfield.

Moser observed him for a few silent seconds.

"You know, Victor" he slowly said "I ignore what was with that flame, but there is one thing I can be pretty sure of…"

The lieutenant watched him with intensity, hanging onto his long-time friend's every word.

"… it is that the Teen Titans are back ! And that, if this one problem here got solved, it is thanks to them !"

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\**

**And… CUT !**

**Oh my GOD ! It took me close to forever to write this ! And what a long chapter ! I honestly didn't expect that much. But hey, if I write such a bunch, that's cool for ya all, who will have a lot to read, uh ?**

**So, down with the first Keeper, eh ? Bravo Happy and Starfire ! But, as it has already been pointed out, it's just the beginning. Tougher struggles are waiting ahead. The Titans and Emoticlones will have to fight much, much more, to even hope meeting Fraktal for good.**

**It'll be a long path till then, but I do hope you'll enjoy the ride in my company.**

**Oh, and hay fever and allergies suxxxx to no end, really ! =((( Hope ya don't have these nuisances, Folks ! My sympathy if ya do !**

**Alright, time to conclude (Gosh, almost 6'400 words…!).**

**Take care, write more and see ya…hum, soon ?**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**


	8. Medusa

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Alright, so I'm slowly but surely getting fed up with the company I work for. And I'm just one out of many to be in such a situation. That's notably – but not only - because of the CEO replacement, which induced a radical perspective change. One of the most nefarious consequences is that the financial parameter has become the top priority, and the human parameter… most secondary ! As a result, the working conditions have substantially worsened and… well, like others, I'll most certainly start looking for a new job, for while it used to be pleasing working for that company, it no longer is now. More like a drudgery… :(((**

**Anyway, enough of myself. I needed to vent a bit, but don't want to linger on it, so back to the story, shall we ?**

**Well, as usual, 2 reviews received, from my good old Blood-of-Silver and xxxsammiegirlxxx (ya rock, Girls, ya know that ? But of course ya do ! ;), so I'll be thanking them for their endless support. But also, thanxxxx to user "when-time-stops" for following the story : welcome to the club ! ;P**

**I'm also happy coz another authoress I like, BeachBabe123, published the second chapter of her latest story, and I'm dying to read it. And Blood-of-Silver published another story, which I may well read. Kudos to ya, Girls !**

**And sorry if I can't update as often as I used to initially : work is eating its way through me and so… it takes more time ! And you're impatient ! And I feel sheepish ! And you feel like coming and getting me ! And I'm dead afraid, before I'll be simply dead ! And… And… And…**

**Readers : Leo, shut it and bring it on !**

**Me : O…okay… calm down… I was just joking…**

**Readers : THE STORYYYY !**

**Me : Alright, alright ! Here it is :**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

"**When Medusa looks in the mirror, she sees the Lady of Sorrows" – Mason Cooley  
**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

**8.7**** */*/*/* ****MEDUSA**** */*/*/* ****8.7**

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Raven looked up at the path which was winding in narrow bends up the mountain, and her gaze stopped at the top of that mountain.

Although she couldn't precisely feel any energy emanating from that remote place, her intuition let her know distinctly that the second Guardian had his lair up there.

And her intuition had almost always proven right.

Very few were the exceptions.

_My sixth sense tells me that you are hiding somewhere at the top, Guardian. And if you aren't, it won't be a problem : I will find you anyway, wherever you are dwelling._

She was confident.

And a faint voice at the back of her head whispered that the Guardian actually _wanted_ to be found, so that he could get rid of the intruder for his ruler, Fraktal.

The Goth started to float towards the rocky heights where she sensed would take place the new battle.

Her mind was still wandering, preoccupied by her leader's feelings. She didn't like to recall how frustrated he felt by his impossibility to come here and help her. The leader would have liked to take a part in the various struggles waiting for the superheroes and the emoticlones, but he had been denied that possibility.

_She _had had to deny him that possibility. And explain him that he would be forced to remain in the Vault for the aura transfer.

_She_ had been the one asking him to stay in that sinister place and ensure the magical link from one world to the other.

_She_ had therefore obliged him to wait, away from the fights, away from the violence, away from his battling friends… away from **her**…

But _she_ had done this to protect him, to avoid his being hurt or even killed. Because she feared such fatality more than anything else. She actually dreaded any of her friends' suffering or passing away, although she never let such concern show on her deadpan face.

Yes, in the depths of her gothic heart, she indeed feared that something terrible may happen to each teammate of hers – who was not just a teammate, but a **friend** in the first place !

Yet, she had a special concern for Robin. A greater one than she had for any other Titan.

Because he was the leader, of course.

But also because they shared this intimate link, which had been created after she had been allowed inside her mind, during that peculiar adventure where the Boy Wonder was convinced that Slade was alive.

And also because of the consequence induced by that intimate bond : the acrobat and the sorceress had started confiding to each other about personal issues. They had discussed personal aspects of both their lives in a few occasions, as they fully trusted each other with any kind of issues. They instinctively knew that the other would never repeat secrets around him / her, and that each of them could give the best advice possible.

All of this was correct. Completely true.

But there one was more reason about her particular concern for the masked Titan.

She wouldn't have easily admitted that reason if she had been asked about it, yet, deep inside, she couldn't have the slightest doubt about her special care for Robin.

And when she remembered their discussion in the Vault, short before she left, and her leader worrying over her, well… she felt…

…she felt…

…both moved and sad. Moved because it triggered some emotion in her, and sad because she couldn't help feeling sorrow as she realized that Robin was disappointed. Disappointed that he wouldn't have the possibility to come help her, that he was helpless in that situation.

_Poor of him ! He was so willing to help and he can't… because of me. Because I forced him to remain here with my fake explanation about his "magical potential"… but I did it out of concern for him, to protect him. Yet this noble attitude had the unwelcome consequence of saddening him, since he can't come battle by my side. I'm so sorry, Robin… so sorry…_

A movement suddenly caught her eye as she was halfway up.

There had been a shadow moving down there, among the bushes.

Could it be the Guardian ?

Yes, it could. And therefore, it needed to be checked.

The Azarathian landed and walked towards the place where she had glimpsed the movement.

She checked the place and the surroundings, but there didn't seem to be anything there.

Yet she was certain she had caught sight of a movement right in that spot.

She _knew_ it.

The cloaked teen finally turned around…

…and found herself face to face with a wolf !

Or at least with a beast resembling a wolf in its overall aspect. But there actually was one major difference : instead of two animal eyes, the creature had only one, set in the center of its forehead, like for Cyclops.

But it didn't exactly look like an eye… It was a green orb, resembling the one that Rae had seen on the foreheads of the ravens she had fought in Griffin's world.

And of course resembling Fraktal's…

The beast growled menacingly, which made the empath guess that it was about to attack. Therefore did the half-demon take up a defensive posture.

Good thing, for the wolf jumped right at her the next minute !

The Titan dodged and retaliated with a black sphere.

The nefarious being was cast away. It crashed against a rock wall, but didn't remain for long on the ground : it rather launched a new assault against the half-human ! This energetic behaviour let it see, better than anything else, how determined this ferocious foe was.

Raven managed to repulse the wolf several times, but the hellish animal incessantly got back up on its paws and mugged her again and again… and again !

Suddenly, just when she was repelling it once more, she felt a sharp pain in her right leg : some fangs had just sunk inside her flesh, and a furious growl had started right behind her.

She turned around to see another wolf biting her hard and shaking its head as it growled on.

Raven's eyes turned white as a menacing grimace of anger twisted her features.

The next second, the beast was lifted from the ground and a powerful strength whirled it against the rock wall.

But when the sorceress turned back to the front, to check on the first enemy, she immediately was jumped at by a third animal, which managed to close its jaws on her left arm. Yet the attack soon was stopped as Rae put her hand right in front of the wolf's head and released black energy, which wrapped the furred body and carried it away violently.

Still, the assault was far from over : the young wizard could now see several wolves running to her and each in turn opening their mouths, avidly looking for the tender flesh to bite and tear with their sharp fangs.

Raven had to move incessantly to swiftly back away from each assailant in turn, while casting her black energy balls or missiles to other foes. She never had more than three or four seconds at best to block the assaults and counter-attack. Rarely had she been caught in such a hectic fight. And rarely had she got that hurt by enemies : her limbs now held several wounds, some very serious, but she had spared herself more injuries by continuously moving and making sure she turned around all the time, to face as many enemies as she could and therefore avoid being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

But given that the situation didn't improve that much, the empath realized that she would have to find a more efficient way of dealing with the wolf pack.

And that's when it hit her.

Of course ! There was a radical manner of getting rid of all these beasts, all together.

Raven swiftly floated back and sat down by the rock wall. Her eyes glowed white.

All of the fierce monsters ran to her…but right when they were about to reach her, a black energy sphere appeared around the half-demon's body.

No matter how hard they tried, they weren't able to find any way in, and this increased all the more their ferocity, making them growl even louder and go around the sphere faster, in jerky moves.

The Azarathian raised her hands, palms up, at the level of her heart, and…

"AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"

The rock wall behind her instantly got covered by dark energy.

And the next second, an avalanches of stones rained down to the spot where human and animals where all gathered.

In no time was the place buried under the large mineral mass, leaving a heap of stones at the exact same place.

Then everything was silent.

No more movements.

No more noises.

Not even the faintest sound.

The air itself was still, like frozen everywhere.

It seemed that all life had vanished for good.

But then…

There was a rumble throughout the rocky heap, and some stones started to move.

Then something appeared at the top, while the stones were being pushed aside and rolled down the stony pile.

A black sphere emerged and floated down to the ground, where it safely landed.

The dark ball vanished, leaving the sitting Goth, who almost immediately got up and took a look at the mass of boulders.

That was it.

She had won.

All of the half-wolves half-monsters had been crushed lethally under those heavy blocks, and she was the only one who had survived this. All her enemies were now cold meat underneath.

The deadpan face of the sorceress turned away from the mineral pile and aimed at the top of the mountain.

There was more to do up there.

There was a Guardian to flush out.

The wolves were just the "appetizer".

Now was time for the main course…

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Robin was pacing the Vault slowly, absorbed deeply in his thoughts.

He was wondering how things were progressing for Raven. And also how his friends were doing, together with those… what was the name ? Emoticlones ? He wasn't sure that it was the correct word, but he did think it was, from his memories.

Emoticlones…

A curious word, he thought.

He had understood that it was a blend between "emotions" and "clones". And the reason for that blend was simple : "emoticlones" referred to emotions looking exactly like Raven, therefore clones of her. The only difference which existed between the emoticlones was the various colours of their uniforms. A specific colour for each emotion.

What were those emotions again ? Could he recall them all ?

There was the cheery one, Happy.

Then the courageous one, Brave.

Also the learned one, Knowledge.

Oh, and the impolite one… mmmmh, what was her name again ? Rude ? Yes, it seemed to him that it was Rude, although he wasn't completely sure.

And who else ?

He frowned under his mask as he tried to find the other names.

There was the one who was shy and scarcely talked… oh yes, Timid, that was !

And then…

…then the one with the brown cloak… who wasn't willing to do much… it was a lazy one… lazy ? Hum… lazy…

Robin was reflecting intensely in order to remember the name of that one.

And then it hit him : a synonym for "laziness" was "sloth". And indeed, he was sure of it now : the name of the brown-cloaked emoticlone was Sloth !

Right. That was now 6 emoticlones. But he remembered counting seven of them. So who was the seventh one ?

He solicited his memory once again, focusing it on the moment Raven had introduced the emoticlones and also on the moment the latter had paired up with the Titans.

It took a few minutes for him to determine who was the "missing piece of the puzzle".

But at last, he managed to.

_Yes ! There also was the one dressed in purple ! She had a lovely smile ! Lovely, yes ! Eh, wait a minute ! Wasn't her name Love ? Yes… yes, I think it was ! Love, exactly !_

And there he had them all. All the emoticlones.

All ?

It seemed to him as if someone had been forgotten. Hadn't Fraktal mentioned a missing emotion, which had angered Raven ?

Yes, Robin now recalled that Rae was actually livid when Fraktal said that. And Fraktal shouldn't have insisted so much, for he ignored what the half-demon was capable of when she was under the influence of…

_But yes, that's it ! Rage ! That's the one I hadn't mentioned ! Raven was infuriated back then because Rage had taken control of her emotional center. How could I forget her ? It's the emotion Raven has the most difficulty to deal with… inheritance of her demon of a father…_

Yes, Rage.

Therefore, her eight emoticlones were : Happy, Brave, Knowledge, Rude, Timid, Sloth, Love and Rage.

And seven of them had left with the Titans for Limbo, where the Keepers were located.

Therefore, it meant that Rage was still inside Raven. And if that was, it could mean only two things : either Raven had refused to have her demonic emotion take part into the fight… or it was Rage who had refused to take part into the fight !

Now, which could it be ?

Robin sensed that, given the urgency of the situation, his dark friend would certainly have asked everybody's help, including the Red Hood's. **(A/N : nope, not gonna make any pun with that… no "Riding" whatsoever ! But ya can still make up the pun just for yourselves ! I'm not even gonna mention any copyright… XD)**.

In conclusion, the only possibility left was that Rage had not accepted her Master's order to join her fellow emotions for that perilous mission.

This implied that Rae's power and authority on her emotions was limited : she couldn't actually force them to do something they didn't want to. Yet, only Rage had refused, which indicated that the other emoticlones were pretty cooperative.

Robin wondered about Rage.

And hoped she would not get in the way of her Master, while the latter had such a difficult and dangerous mission to carry out…

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Raven finally landed on top of the huge mountain… and looked around her with surprise.

She had expected a wild landscape, with bushes and forest trees, and much rock about.

And what she had in front of her eyes was… an orchard ! It was easy to tell from the apples growing on the branches.

_What are fruit trees doing up there ? They should be in the plain, rather than up a mountain…_

That was disconcerting. But there was even more disconcerting.

Indeed, as the Goth approached the trees, she took a closer look at those yellow apples. Because there seemed to be something strange about them.

The colour was…

Unusual.

The fact was that it didn't look like any colour she had ever seen for apples. That bright yellow made it look like the fruits were made of gold or something similar.

The sorceress reached out for one of them.

And her eyes opened wide : the fruit was cold…and it definitely wasn't the peel of an apple she was touching ! It was…

Metal.

Yes, metal.

But the general aspect of the things was definitely the one of apples. Not a single doubt about that. What she had in front of her undoubtedly had an apple's design, the only differences being the colour, the texture and the weight of the fruit.

_It looks like it's REALLY made of gold. Golden apples ? It seems so. But how…?_

And then her eyes got a tad wider as she recalled something she had read about, in a Greek Mythology book. It was a garden where grew apple trees whose fruits were made of pure gold.

The Garden of the Hesperides.

Yes, that was the name of the place. **(A/N : nothing made up here : it really exists as such in mythology !)**

And apparently, she found herself in this place. Or in an exactly identical place.

Raven let go of the golden apple she had grabbed in her hand and started forward, wondering if the Guardian could be hiding somewhere in there.

But she hadn't been walking for three minutes that she noticed a change.

There was a discrete change in the air. A faint unpleasant smell.

The half-demon stopped and dilated her nostrils to try and guess what it was for an odour. She let her nose capture it and started thinking on the nature of it. But despite her efforts to identify the smell, she didn't succeed and finally gave up.

And where did it come from ?

While something visible or audible could fairly easily be located, it was much trickier for a scent, since it was by definition evanescent. **(A/N : I'd be curious to see how many people know the meaning of this. C'mon, the learned ones, raise your hands ! =) )**

The empath walked on and focused her sense of smell on the odour. And as she went on, she soon noticed that the unpleasant exhalation was growing more intense.

_I'm nearing the source of the smell._

And then she saw it.

Just ahead was a part of the garden which contained dark twisted trees whose fruits were rotting either at the ends of the branches or on the ground. This meant that those fruits were not made of gold, but that they were normal ones, subject to decay.

Raven stepped closer to that peculiar part of the garden, in which decomposition could be witnessed, while the rest of the trees here wouldn't ever lose their special fruits.

But just as she was approaching the cursed part of the orchard…

"You have made it this far, grey girl, but you won't be able to pursue your journey. And soon your body will join these fruits in their rotting on the ground."

The Titan quivered when she heard that deep, raspy voice. It certainly was one of the most horrible voices she had ever heard. To which terrible being could it belong ?

The answer wasn't long to be "unveiled".

The owner of that awful voice stepped out from behind a larger tree. And Raven felt a shiver of disgust run along her back when she saw who…or "what" was there.

The monster had the body of a female, except that the general shape of the body was the only common point with a human. For the rest, nothing much that matched.

By way of skin, an envelope of scales on each inch of the arms, legs and face.

Hands and feet with three digits each and long thick claws at each end of these.

Large red eyes with no pupils, in which a network of veins could be distinctly seen.

A huge mouth in which stumps were awkwardly set, and dark purple chops instead of lips.

But the most striking was her "hair"… which wasn't hair at all, but an interlacing of countless small snakes !

This ugly being wore only a dark grey dress which was torn here and there and whose lower portion had turned to shreds, part of it even missing.

The creature was female, although not much hinted to that, as she didn't have breasts and her face didn't look feminine at all. The only element which in fact had helped Rae guess that the monster indeed happened to be a female was her voice, which although raspy, still had a remain of femininity left in it. But no more than a remain…

"What's your name, future victim ?" asked the horrible voice.

"Raven. But I won't be your victim. Never ! And you are… Medusa, isn't it ?"

The learned Titan had read quite a lot about mythology and become really good at everything related to this matter. And there aren't that many monsters with snakes as way of hair in the Greek legends…

"I am. And this is my kingdom : the Garden of the Hesperides, and its golden-apples trees. Yet I'm condemned to remain in this part of the place, where grow normal fruits, which rot quickly and soon fill the air with miasma. Yet I don't eat them while they're edible : I prefer to devour them when they're as rotten as can be. That's how I like them."

"You're disgusting, Medusa. Really disgusting." Raven deadpanned.

The monster's eyes opened up and shone a dark bright red.

Immediately, the trees' branches started to move and swiftly took a hold of the Titan.

"That won't be enough ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !"

Dark energy sliced up the branches and the magical girl was free.

"A female wizard ? That will be interesting… But this is just the beginning."

Medusa curled up on herself… and then opened up completely, arms stretched to the sky. And a huge mass of scales issued from her body, very quickly reaching the opponent.

The latter couldn't dodge all the sharp "missiles" she had been cast and her skin got cut in a few places.

The sorceress held back a wince of pain as she felt the wounds she was being inflicted.

Medusa smiled. Or rather, she made a grimace that was supposed to be a smile. But it was so ugly that you could hardly consider it that way.

"Got hurt, Witch ? Eh eh, good, good ! And this is just the "appetizer" ! You'll experience far worse !"

This being said, the awful being pronounced a word in ancient Greek.

And the next minute, snakes began to creep out of the mass above her head and fell to the floor, where they started crawling rapidly in direction of the cloaked girl.

The empath floated away from the small reptiles, thinking she would be safe up in the air.

Yet she was wrong.

The snakes huddled up and then jumped up, loosening up like living springs. And several of them touched Raven, trying to bite her as they fell back to the ground, following her body.

If some of them didn't manage to, there still were a few of them which managed to drive their fangs in her flesh, causing acute pain. Which this time she couldn't hide, unlike before.

"Aaaaah !" screamed Rae, although not that loud, showing her stoicism.

The snakes went on jumping at her, and thus did she have no choice but rapidly fly away from them, so that they didn't have time to even curl up for their jumps.

But it wasn't over yet, oh no !

Medusa let out a tremendous shout, her mouth aiming at her enemy.

It seemed to Raven that a sonic tidal wave was being hurled at her. She had no choice but to cover her ears with her hands.

But the effect of the creature's scream showed far worse than expected : the sorceress suddenly stopped hovering and fell down heavily, like were she of stone.

The Azarathian's eyes widened when she noticed this and had just enough quickness of reaction to remove her hands from her ears and put them under her.

As her palms connected with the ground, a sharp pain shot up from hands to brain. Rae winced but didn't let out any sound, this time.

The Goth was lying on the ground, but she knew she had to get up soon, or else she would be…

Too late !

Many snakes had already gathered around her, fast as bolts of lightning, and were biting her or right about to do it.

The purple-haired teen screamed again, feeling her flesh being pierced in several places. But she counter-attacked in a wink : dark energy covered her body and exploded all around, killing all her small assailants.

Medusa chuckled venomously. **(A/N : yup, chose the word on purpose because of her snakes ! You really guess a lot, dear readers ! Gotta make it more complex next time, eh… ;) )**

"Seems that my little _protégés_ have got you just fine, isn't it ?" she mockingly remarked.

Raven rose from the ground, frowning and gritting her teeth.

"Maybe they did, but don't imagine this will be enough to get rid of me ! I'm much tougher than that !"

Medusa laughed, a most disagreeable sound. And as she did, all of the snakes remaining on her head hissed in direction of the half-human.

"But you haven't seen it all _yet_, Raven ! My _protégés_ have been doing the work themselves. And in a few minutes, you'll be all mine, Witch !"

The Azarathian observed her foe without any visible reaction. Then she spoke up.

"Perhaps I'll be in difficulty in a minute, but still, I wouldn't underestimate me if I were you. I've come out victorious of much more diffic-… GGGGGHHHH !"

Rae's voice choked down her throat and only a muffled moan escaped her lips afterwards.

_Oh my God ! That pain ! That __**terrible**__ pain ! The… the snakes' venom… I…I must… resist… resist…_

In all of her body, there was aching. There was burning. There was swelling. Horrid sensations that these. Really horrid.

The cloaked girl tried to move, but felt anguish start its sneaky invasion as she realized that it was **not** possible ! She was immobilized, completely frozen while still standing.

"GGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH !"

Her vocal folds seemed out of order and her tongue so heavy like did it weight tons. She was completely, totally paralyzed : even speaking had become impossible for her. The only sound that had been left available from her larynx was this muffled moan, this gagging noise that made her sound like a speech-disabled person.

For the first time since long, Raven, the most powerful of the Teen Titans and one of the mightiest beings on the planet, Raven, the legendary sorceress who held so many spells and so many powers in her frail body, Raven, who had saved the world by destroying the strongest of all demons, Trigon the Terrible, Raven was staring at her enemy, utterly helpless and with eyes widened out of dread…an emotion she hardly ever experienced.

The wizard who had vanquished so many terrible enemies, who had accomplished so many difficult tasks, who had come back from the dead, was currently unable to do anything against this new adversary, who was far more potent than it may have seemed initially.

"Didn't I tell you that you soon would be rotting on the ground, with those decaying fruits ? You see, I always do what I say I will. You should never have come here. But alas, it's a bit late for that. You didn't learn your lesson well, Witch. You'll soon be able to greet your gods !"

Medusa stepped over to Raven and knocked the paralyzed body to the ground.

The half-human tumbled like a statue, unable to cushion her fall, merely enduring it passively.

"What will I do to you now ? Mmmmmh, let me think for a while…"

The empath's eyes were now turned towards the orchard, unable to move to look elsewhere, as the venom had frozen even her pupil's movements.

She could see, not far from her, the golden apples hanging from many places in the foliage of the trees.

A flash of realization zigzagged inside her mind. Yes, she could try that. Not sure it would work, but what else could she do in this very moment ?

The young sorceress focused intensely, her eyes set on the trees.

It had to work. It _had_ to.

Her eyes suddenly glowed bright white.

And all of a sudden, all the golden fruits silently started to float up and got cut from their stalks.

Absorbed in thought as she was, Medusa didn't notice anything, all the more since she had started walking menacingly around her prey as she reflected on the best way to lead the "witch" to her doom, and currently had her back directed at the orchard, therefore unable to spot what was taking place behind her.

Raven focused her energy and will for the next step. She had to do quick, while the monster was still turned and therefore had no sight on the orchard.

"Ah yes, I've found ! To finish you off, I will -"

BAAAAAANG !

A first golden apple hit her head. Or more precisely the nest of snakes covering the creature's head.

Medusa didn't have the time to exactly understand what had just occurred : a second apple hit her… a third one… a fourth one… a fifth one…

It was like a "hail of apples" landing on the snakes rolled up around the skull of the ugly being.

The blows continued on and on, until there were no fruits left in the orchard, and Medusa was lying on the ground, badly hurt.

The Guardian slowly got up on one arm and her hand flew to the reptiles she was harbouring on her skull.

But no sooner had she touched a snake that…

All of the scaled bodies rained down from the top and landed on the ground, in front of their owner.

The snakes were dead. In their entirety.

Raven felt that her body was slowly coming out of its drowsiness. She could start moving again, not very fast, yes, but still… She was no longer immobilized !

Medusa was speaking in ancient Greek, her voice misshapen by grief. She was addressing the snakes, hoping that some would still be alive and would react to her voice. These may have seemed only mere animals to others, but to her no. They were a part of her, always had been, from the day she had been turned into this ugly monster until now. They were her companions.

And all of her companions were now piled up, life having deserted their small bodies.

The Guardian felt her anger swell on and on inside of her.

She rose from the ground, slowly, menacingly, and turned around.

"I'll make you pay for -"

Medusa's eyes widened completely.

The "witch" was standing… and she was in attack position !

"It looks like the death of your snakes has freed me from the action of their venom. And now that they have left your head, it's just you and me, Medusa ! Are you ready ?"

The ugly one screamed as loud as she could, but Rae countered it with a black energy shield.

"I'M GONNA SLAUGHTER YOU ! YOU HEAR ME, WITCH ?! I'M GONNA DISMEMBER YOU LIMB AFTER LIMB, AND WILL HAVE PLEASURE AT YOUR ENDLESS SUFFERING !"

The grey-skinned smirked.

"Many have thought they could kill me. Including my own father. The last one who tried was Griffin, and he had no better luck than the rest before. And you will not succeed either. I was helpless before, but all my strength returned and now… it's the end for you !"

The monster charged at her, but the wizard could easily avoid her. The scales that she was cast cut her grey skin here and there, but it was nothing in comparison of the venom that had annihilated her movements earlier.

Medusa managed to scratch Raven a few times, as she fought with her arms, trying to find a way to the grey throat, to strangle it for good.

The Guardian attacked relentlessly but failed at seriously hurting her adversary.

Finally, Medusa stopped and stood there, panting deep and glaring at Raven.

"It's time I show you what I'm capable of. I'll get rid of you, ugly monster !" calmly said the empath.

"U...ugly… me ? Have you… seen… your grey… skin ?" said the hideous creature between her breaths. "And that… purple… hair…? You're…uglier… than me ! Who…would ever…fall in love…with you ? No one…would !"

Raven's face changed. A grimace of pure hatred twisted her features.

"Shut up, Monster ! Never say that again ! Contrary to you, I can be loved ! So don't you dare repeat that again !"

Medusa smirked, and finally spoke normally, her breath now stable.

"You'll end up your life alone. You're a freak, and no man will ever love you !"

Raven felt wrath rise up inside of her. But she didn't even try to calm herself.

"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT YOUR MOUTH, MEDUSA ! IF YOU DON'T, I'LL MAKE YOU SHUT IT !"

"Ah ah, I hurt you, didn't I ? I hurt the grey freak with purple hair ? The one who is a monster as well, and will never have the chance to experience love ? Ah ah, poor single girl ! Virgin forever…"

A terribly loud yell escaped Rae's lips, and when she faced her enemy again, she didn't have two purple eyes anymore…

…but four red ones !

"I had told you to shut up" said a sepulchral voice which seemed not to belong to the young girl who was standing there before. "But you didn't listen to my warning. Here's is the price you'll pay !"

Medusa tried to start a new attack, but the black tidal wave rushed at her much too fast for her to be able to either counter it or avoid it.

The dark mass engulfed her…

…and when the energy vanished, there wasn't anything left there !

Except for a blue blob changing shape constantly.

The second aura.

But Medusa herself had disappeared completely. Once and for all.

The four-eyed fighter growled menacingly for one more minute then got silent.

_Rage, give me my body back ! I thank you for helping me, but I must not remain in this state. You know it. My emotions must remain in control. Please, retreat from my organism ! But again, thank you for your help ! I appreciate !_

There was an inner growl, indicating that the Red Hood was reluctant to dive back in the depths of the empath, but finally, everything calmed down.

And when the Dark Titan opened her eyes again, there were two of these and they were purple.

The cloaked teen pointed her finger to the aura and motioned her arm to the left.

The blue blob obediently followed he direction indicated and soon was out of sight.

Rae was about to contact Rob telepathically, but then she recalled the Guardian's words : _You'll end up your life alone. You're a freak, and no man will ever love you !_

And she felt sadness fill up her heart.

_No man will ever love you !_

No, she just couldn't contact Robin this time. Maybe the next one, but not this one. Yet she knew he would know what to do anyway. He had already done it perfectly the first time.

So, she sat down instead, crossed her legs, closed her eyes, took her arms up and made thumbs and forefingers touch. And…

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos ! …"

It was time to heal those wounds, inflicted by the scales and the snakes.

But while she would be able to cure her body from the physical wounds, she wouldn't have the possibility to do the same for the psychological wound Medusa had inflicted her just before her death. It wasn't what the monster had said about her appearance, grey skin and purple hair, no. She didn't care about that. What had made her suffer, what **still** made her suffer was what she had insinuated about her loneliness : that no man would ever love her, and that she was due to end up her life on her own.

And that terrible wound could never be fully healed, and if there one day was a scar left, it could reopen at any moment, out of despair… out of fear of not being loved…

**/**

**Two weeks and a half since last update ! Jeez ! I must really thank you, dear readers, for your incredible patience ! I'm so sorry I couldn't bring you this earlier ! **

**The fact is that things have not been easy for me lately, both professionally and privately : that explains my delaying the writing of this chappy. Again, I apologize.**

**So, did ya like that encounter wz Medusa ? Pretty freaky monster, eh ! And see how she managed to hurt poor Rae ! How unjust for her ! But she's really solid inside, ya know, and she'll move forward no matter what ! Coz she's Raven ! =)**

**Oh, and thanxxxx a lot to Rage for her help in this chapter ! We love you anyway, Red Hood ! Even when you're Riding…**

**OUUUUUCH !**

**Hum, so..sorry, Rage ! I… I take it back ! Sorry, really !**

***Rage threatens to hit me once more, then gives it up and floats away, mumbling naughty things about people mocking her***

**Hum, I also finished re-reading all of my stories, and it was really fun. I did it not out of narcissism, but out of nostalgia. Like, what did it sound again, what I had written ? And I plan to read all of my fav' MBC stories again . And after, maybe TT stories as well…? ;D**

**Anyway, I'm sorry to inform ya that ya won't hear from me before long : I'll be on holiday for 10 days, in southern Spain (Andalousia) and will begin next chapter only when I'm back. Therefore not before at best 2 weeks. Sooooo yeaaaah… you'll have to be patient… again ! (Please, Ana, don't kill me ! XD But then again, I can also kill ya for the non-update of MBC ! ;)**

**Waow, did I really type 6'740 words ? Really ? Duuuude, I've become completely addict to typing, it seems, eh ? XXXDDD**

**Anyway, I'll be seeing ya all in a long time ! Please update your stories whenever ya can, I'll read them greedily ! Please do it, coz I miss yr stuff, all !**

**Right, that's all for now, Folks ! See ya… in a looooong time !**

**Take care, Mates ! =)**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**XXXX**


	9. Sloth

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Alleluia ! I'm not dead (…yet…) ! XD**

**Ok, this is now July 25****th****, and I'm starting my first chapter since… mmmh… since too long ago ! °.°''**

**But hey, I **_**do**_** have excuses at hand : the main one is that work has been awfully busy, horribly hectic, tremendously demanding, terribly complicated… For already the 3****rd**** year in a row, summer season is way busier than winter season. And since we're understaffed ****again****…**

**And I was on vaca, and therefore, vacation means resting. I know that many of ya still update while on vacation, and I usually do myself, but this time… eh, I just felt like having a break, even from writing, so…**

**And also I've had a lot of things on my plate, so I guess it just didn't feel like the right period for another chapter, so…**

**And I decided to dedicate myself to reading others' updates, instead of producing my own update, so…**

**And that's about it. At least it wasn't a WB (Writer's Block), eh, so…**

**Been saying "and" & "so" quite a lot, lately, no ? Hum, broken record syndrome ? XD**

**Anyway, I went to my 2 concerts and they were loads of fun ! Each time I go to Paleo Festival, it's a dashing time ! And ya, Folks ? Anybody been to concerts this summer ?**

**So (no, not again that word…!), many thanxxxx to Phantom of Runes, one of my story's dedicatees, and CuttieGirll57 for their nice reviews ! And yellow card to both Blood-of-Silver and xxxsammiegirlxxx for NOT reviewing this time ! :((( Maybe they read it, but for sure they didn't review : the review list proves it. That's really really bad ! But since I'm in a merciful mood… ;) (Still, if ya don't review this chapter, I'll catch next plane to yr countries and come burn down yr places… fair warning !)**

**Right, I've got my word quota for the introduction, so wzout further ado :**

**N'joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

"**We excuse our sloth under the pretext of difficulty.****" – QUINTILIAN**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

**8.8**** */*/*/* ****SLOTH**** */*/*/* ****8.8**

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Fens.

As far as the eyes could see, fens.

Nothing else.

The atmosphere was hot and wet. A clammy prison in which one felt oppressed. Uneasy. And willing to be elsewhere.

In this unwelcoming area, two things only seemed to be moving : two silhouettes making their way through the miasma. One of them wore a cloak but held no weapon while the other one had a bow in hand but no cloak whatsoever.

They were walking in silence, but all of a sudden, the armed one couldn't take it anymore and turned towards the unarmed one.

"So what's your name again ?"

The grey-skinned girl took a breath and didn't reply immediately. And the masked boy, after a moment of bewilderment, was about to ask his question again…

…when his interlocutor finally opened her mouth :

"Sloth"

He stared at her for a moment, not sure on how to react.

"Okaaay…" he ended up uttering. "Sloth…that means laziness, right ?"

It was her turn to look at him while walking… but without breathing a word !

The archer opened up his mouth after seconds of waiting… and that's when he got his reply !

"Yes"

He couldn't help phrasing his surprise out loud :

"Well… you're really not talkative, are you ?"

She snorted.

"Clever guess !"

Sloth seemed to remember something.

"But _**you**_ are !"

He looked surprised again.

"I am what ?"

She smirked.

"Talkative !"

The archer frowned a bit.

"I don't think that trying to make small talk can have you consider as chatty, eh ?"

The brown-dressed girl laughed lightly.

"So so…"

"You don't agree with me ?"

She made a skeptical pout.

"Mmmmh… let's see… not really… but anyway, I'm too tired to argue…"

"Tired ? Already ? We have just been walking for a while, so if you're already tired before even the beginning of our fight against the Keeper…"

Sloth sighed.

"That was a long sentence you uttered. _You_ must be tired… hum, Speedy, is it ?"

The red-dressed boy frowned again.

"Yeah, Speedy. And not, I'm not tired after a long sentence." He seemed to think of something and added : "You really don't like making efforts, do you ?"

The girl guffawed at this.

"Well, why do you think my name is Sloth ?"

"You sure sound reluctant to action…"

"People make so many useless efforts throughout their life. All that energy wasted ! While they could grant so much of it for such nicer stuff !"

Speedy took a few seconds to ponder this pertinent remark.

"Well, it's true that people sometimes put their energy in rather vain things –"

"Often !" she cut him.

"What ?"

"You said sometimes. I say **often** : they **often** waste energy uselessly !"

He smiled.

"And that comforts you in thinking that it's good to be idle, right ?"

She smiled back.

"Quite so !"

They walked on in silence for a few minutes, but Speedy was pretty pleased to have managed it in the difficult task of pulling words out of Sloth's lazy mouth.

After a while, the masked one addressed again the cloaked one.

"I wonder where that Keeper could be…"

She stretched her arms, eyes shut tight, then yawned and finally gave her reply.

"Not a clue"

"And also if he'll be that tough…"

She made a grimace of displeasure.

"I sure hope not ! It will last long… and be tiresome… and I don't wanna get tired…"

The archer shook his head, smiling.

"Damn ! Never seen such a slacker !"

The grey girl chuckled.

"Touché !"

He kept on smiling at her, as he watched her.

_Well, I guess I'll be doing most of the job… Let's just hope she'll be lending a hand even so… For if I'm to fight the Keeper on my own, it won't be that easy… But I trust she'll help._

"Who are you ?"

It was a drawling voice. And it originated from the right.

Both Titans turned their heads in that direction.

There, behind a large rock, lay a fat figure. It seemed like a human being, given the general anatomy… but the head wasn't a human's, it was a dormouse's !

The two fighters stared intently at the being sprawled there, who looked back at them with sleepy eyes.

No one uttered a single word for a long while, the newcomers and the local inhabitant fixing their gazes on each other.

Finally, Speedy spoke up.

"Who are you ?"

The hybrid creature gave a long, irritated sigh.

"I asked it before…"

The archer imperceptibly frowned.

"My name is Speedy and my friend here is Sloth"

As soon as this was uttered, the weary eyes, which up to then were half-closed, opened

much wider, out of surprise.

"Did you say… Sloth ?"

"I did, yes."

"But I _**am**_ Sloth !"

The emoticlone's eyes widened a tad.

"Are you trying to steal my identity ? For _I_ am Sloth !"

The hybrid's eyes narrowed.

"Are you saying that your name is Sloth as well ? Really ?"

There seemed to be doubt hidden in his voice. And that displeased Raven's emotion to some extent.

"Well, yes, that's my name ! If yours truly is identical, then there's two of us !"

The other one pondered this a bit, then came to the only logical conclusion.

"Then we both have the same name. Never seen that…"

**(A/N : from now on, I will use 2 distinct terms to distinguish the 2 Sloth's : SLOTH-E will refer to Sloth the Emoticlone and SLOTH-K to Sloth the Keeper)**

"And is this… your domain ?" inquired Speedy.

He was probing his vis-à-vis, trying to check if he was the Keeper – which he suspected – without directly questioning his identity.

The half-dormouse half-human yawned widely, then fixed his sleepy gaze on the two intruders.

"Yes… and by the way, what exactly are you two doing here ?"

Speedy exchanged a glance with Sloth-E, wondering how he should put it. But the emoticlone, after a deep sigh, spilled the beans.

"Looking for the Keeper. That you ?"

Sloth-K considered his lazy opponent with now narrowed eyes.

"I am. Why you here for ?"

Just like the brown-cloaked girl, the hybrid creature didn't make complete sentences, omitting a verb like her. Laziness, really…

"We're here to fight you and help the Titans free Jump City from… what's his name ? … Fraktal, I believe ?" explained the archer.

Sloth-K sneered, slowly closing and opening his heavy eyelids.

"We'll see, really, we'll see !"

And the owner of the swampy domain launched his first attack on his adversaries…

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

**(A/N : cliffiiiiiiiiie ! ;))) )**

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The leader was pacing the Vault, his eyes directed at the layer of mist hovering above the floor.

He felt that it was all wrong.

This had never happened before.

Never indeed had he been "left out" of any battle. He had either fought along with his four teammates or sometimes alone, notably when he was chasing Slade under the disguise of Red X.

But he definitely had been involved in all of the team's battles.

Always.

Always…up to now.

This time, he, the leader, was left aside. He was reduced to making some blue blobs transit from one portal to another… and that was it ! Nothing more !

_Okay, okay, calm down, Robin, calm down ! After all, this transfer from Subterraneas to Limbo is crucial, since the Keepers cannot be defeated if the auras are not sent to Limbo, where they can destroy the Keepers' barriers, right ? That's what Rae said… So my role is very important all the same !_

He knew that. Yet he still felt that something in all this was… well… misplaced ? Maybe, yes… maybe misplaced…

He knew full well that Rae was absolutely not to blame. No. Never. She had done everything right. Robin's role in this was primordial, like she had said.

Yes.

Yes, but still…

…he had never experienced this ! Being forced to wait while the rest of his team plus the Titans East were struggling hard against tough monsters. It was really frustrating.

And although Robin tried to remain calm, collected, and force himself to be patient and understanding, he couldn't help feeling displease lurk deep within him. His passive role wasn't driving him crazy yet… but he had a hard time coping with it all !

Especially because he was here, safe, while his teammates were risking their lives.

And most especially Raven.

He felt his mind soften when the thought of the Dark Titan filled it.

_Rae…_

His mouth slightly bent up into a nice smile as the image of the Goth lingered inside his head.

A rustle disturbed his daydream.

Raising his masked eyes, the Caped Titan spotted the cerulean shape caught in the grey portal. It was hovering and its shape changed slowly, endlessly.

_Another aura !_

He hurried to the magical passageway and stretched out his arms towards the blob, then directed his arms to the black entrance on the other side of the Vault. The aura obediently followed the movement and found itself in the middle of the Limbo portal, where it soon disappeared.

There it was ! Another aura gone to the Keepers' world, where it would smash up the magical barrier of another evil lord and enable the Titan-emoticlone pair facing him now to finally reach him and hurt him. And this announced another victory of Good against Evil.

Hopefully.

Once it was through, Robin remained watching the black portal for a few more seconds, as he was all focused on a second triumph of his friends.

But his mind soon turned to another crucial matter.

_Rae…_

He closed his eyes and let his spiritual energy flow from him and get to his cloaked companion.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Raven gave a last look at the garden.

The portion of it where Medusa had been hiding, this jumble of convoluted trees where she dwelled and had gone out from when Raven had showed up inside her domain, had now vanished from the top of the mountain.

The garden was restored back to its initial state, completely healthy again, without that miasma filling the air and the sight of the stunted trees in the back.

_I made it. And I did with the help of Rage. I may be trying to stifle her more than often, but I have to admit that she can be of precious help whenev-_

Her train of thoughts suddenly came to a halt as she heard a voice echo inside her head.

_Rae… Rae, it's Robin. I just received the second aura and made it shift to Limbo. Thus should another Keeper be down soon._

The Goth smiled softly as she listened intently to her leader.

_Great job, Rob ! Thank you so much for your help !_

_Needless thank me for this, Rae ! I've always been helping out my teammates, so why thank me now ? I'm just doing my job, like any of you._

_You're right, Rob ! But while you're right… that doesn't mean that I can't express you my gratitude for your invaluable, crucial help !_

_Well… yes, I guess you're correct. But it's nothing, really, you know. I'm onl-_

_NO ! It's __**not**__ nothing, Robin ! It is NOT ! Your task in the Vault is of enormous importance : we couldn't have any chance of defeating Fraktal if you were not there !_

_But same goes for you, Raven ! You're of decisive importance as well ! How would we have a single chance of beating any of the Keepers if you couldn't deal away with the Guardians ? You're the one making it all possible !_

_Yes… You're right, Robin. Thank you for your kind words ! They go straight to my heart !_

_Same here, my dear. I…I…I mean : Raven. Sorry, I… I just…_

Short awkward silence moment.

Then :

_It's okay, Rob. You don't need to apologize._

But while she was speaking, the usually emotionless, deadpan teenager felt her face heat up. And naturally, she knew what was happening to her. And which emoticlone precisely her physical change involved.

_Is everything alright for you, Raven ?_

She had got lost in thought, and the voice of her leader made her widen her eyes a tad and blink rapidly twice.

_Y-yes… I'm okay… I just… No, nothing. I'm fine._

She thought it would go no further, that he wouldn't insist, but…

_What were you about to say ? You know, when you started with "I just…" and left your sentence unfinished… What were you about to say that you chose to drop off ?_

The Cloaked Titan swallowed her saliva.

_It's just…secondary. Not worth mentioning. We have far more interesting to talk about._

She hoped he would go for this orientation of the mental discussion, yet…

_It may be secondary, but anything that you can say seems of interest to me. Do you mind sharing it with me ? Please ?_

_Robin… I know you want to know, but… I don't feel like talking about it…_

_I can sense your upset, Rae. And it saddens me. But if you definitely refuse to tell me what is bothering you, I guess I have no choice but-_

_Okay. I will tell you, Rob._

_Listen, Rae. I was wrong. I shouldn't have insisted in the first place. It's personal after all and you have full right to ref-_

_Nonono, it's alright. You're not intruding. You're only trying to help me feel better and I should enable you to do so. I'm sorry I initially tried to avoid the topic. It's my fault, not yours._

_Raven…_

_Rob, it's fine, I tell you. Please let me explain now._

A short break. A deep inhalation of the Goth. And…

_I…fought Medusa. She was tough and managed to paralyze me, but I found a way to take her down nevertheless, thanks to my telekinetic powers. Yet before she got destroyed for good, she… she said… naughty things to me… to hurt me and… and…_

A single tear formed in the sorceress's right eye and soon followed the soft curve of her cheek, down towards her chin. Her mouth was slightly shaking.

_Rae… I don't know how exactly, but I sense your sadness. And some acute pain within your mind. Something is aching inside of you. Is hurting you. Rae, are you… are you crying right now ? I have the feeling you are._

The Titan sobbed and closed her eyes, frowning hard.

She should not let grief overwhelm her like that. She used to be way stronger than that, emotionally and mentally speaking. So why, now…?

There was another gap of silence.

_Raven ?_

Rob's voice was softer than before. A tad more faltering this time. He wasn't sure whether he should insist on calling her.

The Dark Titan sniffed and regained her focus on the telepathic bond.

_Yes, I was crying. But I'm okay now. Don't worry._

_It was what Medusa said that got you moved that much, right ?_

_Yes. And since I said I would let you know exactly what it was about… She said that I was a monster and that I would end up my life alone. That nobody would ever love me. And that was condemned to die on my own._

The purple-haired girl stopped her speech there and closed her eyes again.

Her whole throat seemed to have narrowed and was now so painful… **so** painful…

She mentally ordered herself not to cry, and instead pull herself together.

_I'm…I'm so sorry, Rae. Medusa was a real bitch ! Excuse me for using such a word, I know it's unlike me to be rude… but that's all she deserved ! I'm so sad she made you suffer, Rae. And believe me, you'll __**NEVER**__ end your life lonely : a man will love you, believe me ! A man will give you his heart ! Trust me : you know I'm almost always right, as are you… and I know that I'm right on this one ! _

Raven reopened her eyes. They were not shiny. She had been strong, yes, but there was another reason why she had avoided weeping a second time : Robin's words had consoled her. They had managed to relieve her from the suffering, to mellow the hurting. He had been trying to comfort her… and had succeeded in it !

_Rob… You made me feel better. You really did. I didn't shed a single tear this time. All thanks to you. Thank you, Robin, thank you so much ! For your comforting me ! For your precious help when I need some ! For your kind words ! For your awesome care ! For… for everything ! You are an incredible leader, Rob, and I'm proud to be on your team and follow your guidance ! Thank you, with all my heart !_

There was a new pause in the mental exchange.

Raven licked her lips. She felt a tad uneasy. Had she given it away ? Had he discovered what she tried to keep hidden behind her sweet thanks and compliments ?

_No, Rae : it's me to thank you ! You're taking all the risks here, while all I do is pass a blob from one spot to another one really close. You're fighting tough enemies, and I do almost nothing. You're suffering while I'm not. Therefore, if anyone here deserve gratitude and consideration, it is you, Rae. Believe me. And I will always care for you. Always._

The Boy Wonder grew silent, but the hypersensory powers of the Goth enabled her to sense the uneasiness stem from his mind.

She had to make him relax.

_It will be okay, Robin. Thank you for caring for me ! I do care for you as well ! And I'm sorry that you can't be more active in this struggle against Fraktal ! But what you do, while it seems not much, is absolutely essential. And we couldn't stand a chance against our foes if you weren't there. You mean a lot for our teams… for all of us…_

And deep inside her heart, she knew so well for who especially he was important.

_I have to go now, Robin. The third Guardian is waiting for me. But once again, receive my boundless gratitude for your kindness of heart ! You are really… a wonderful person, Robin ! Yes, you are ! And I'm so proud to have you as my teammate !_

_It is reciprocal, Raven. I'm sorry I can't fight by your side, but I'll do my part of the job at best. Especially because it is that important. Please be careful, Rae, and don't let anyone hurt you anymore with nasty comments : you are worthier than any of our foes !_

_Thank you, Rob._

_Thank YOU, Rae._

Nobody spoke for long, long seconds, which seemed to stretch to minutes.

And finally…

_Take care, Raven !_

_You too, Robin !_

Both Titans felt the pleasing warmth wrap their bodies, and more particularly their faces. It was so nice a feeling…

The grey girl almost blurted out what she had on her mind (and in her heart)… but reconsidered it at the last second, and instead, let out a more formal speech.

_Talk to you later !_

_Okay._

And Raven finally shut down the telepathic link, her heart pounding hard, almost being cramped for room inside her ribcage.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

"Watch out !" Speedy screamed as a dark grey ray came shooting slowly at the brown-clad girl.

The emoticlone took off at the last second, the ray missing her by a hair.

But a new ray already was aiming at Speedy, who somersaulted at the ultimate moment too.

The archer then turned around and his eyes widened in shock !

"Oh no !"

Then something caught his attention, a little further.

"Sloth ! Careful : the rays are coming back at us !"

And indeed the two evil projections had made some kind of U-turn and were slowly making their way back to the enemies they had to hit.

"Easy, Buddy, easy : why freak out like that ? That's all wasted energy !"

The Masked Titan managed to avoid once again the grey beam and his cloaked companion imitated him, but it was a close one this time as well.

"Sloth, you should be more cautious ! If you keep on flying away at the very last second before the impact, you risk getting hit sometime !"

"Hey, cool down, I told you ! Why stress out so much ? We have got everything under control !"

"So you say ! These rays won't leave us any respite !"

As he uttered this, his finger was pointing at the grey beams, which were already heading back at them, always advancing slowly through the fetid air.

"And we gotta pay attention to the speed at which they are moving : a slow pace can be misleading and make us jump too early !"

"Okay, okay. Now stop talking for a while and try to find a way to hit the Keeper !"

As if on cue, a shiny blue shape appeared on the left and floated rapidly in direction of Sloth-K.

Speedy and Sloth-E watched as the cerulean object came in contact with their adversary.

Sparkles erupted all around the massive body, a booming sound was heard and finally a loud explosion.

"MY BARRIER !" yelled the Keeper, an effort he was reluctant to concede, given the energy it involved, but that he couldn't avoid making, for spontaneity's sake.

A smile of triumph replaced the previous concern on Speedy's face.

"The barrier has been shattered ! That blue thing therefore was that thing that the Guardian held… the aura or whatever the name was… which can cancel the barrier ! He's now vulnerable ! Let's go, Sloth !"

But the emoticlone looked at him arms crossed, smiling.

"Go ahead !"

He stared at her in disbelief.

"You're not going to help me ?!"

She yawned.

"Waaaaah ! You know, fighting is sooooooo tiresome. So I prefer to let you do the job. I'll come lend a hand if it gets too tough. Okidoki ?"

The red-clad boy glared at her, his eyebrows frowned like never.

"Well, thank you very much for your help ! Lazy you !"

She smirked and shrugged it off, remaining arms crossed, levitating idly.

Speedy rushed to Sloth-K and started casting arrows at him.

The monster wanted to move away but, handicapped by years of laziness during which he had lost the habit of moving regularly, he proved too slow and got seriously hurt by the arrows.

"You'll pay for that !" the dormouse-headed creature screamed, but not that loud though (idleness, always idleness… ;)

And walking the walk as well as talking the talk **(A/N : now we'll see who are the learned ones among ya : who understood what that saying here means ? Raise yr hands !)**, the Keeper launched another grey beam, which gradually reached the archer.

The latter dodged at the last moment, but his eyes widened as he saw another beam already floating towards him.

It was far from over : Sloth-K, going against his lazy nature, had now cast more rays in direction of his adversary. This forced the boy to focus a lot to make sure that he wouldn't overlook any of the fatal projections.

He still found the time to catch a brief glimpse of his grey-skinned companion. She was still in the same position, arms crossed, and whenever the beam was about to touch her, she simply floated away gracefully.

_I just can't believe it ! I'm sweating like hell, doing my best to avoid all these beams, and it takes her almost no effort steering clear of her own beam. I'm doing all the job and she just makes do with a simple dodge here and there to stay safe. How really unfair ! If we make it through, I swear I'm gonna slap that girl…_

But his angry thoughts against Sloth-E distracted him a tad, not that much, but still just that little enough for him to let his focus slacken a bit.

And forget about the exact location of each beam aiming at him.

He spotted a new danger before him, but not too menacing yet. He then turned his head left and saw another ray closing in, this one actually more dangerous.

Two rays. But what about –

"OUCH !" he screamed as the third grey projection hit his back treacherously.

_Oh no ! NO ! I lost my concentration while glancing at Sloth and cursing mentally at her ! And I allowed my focus to lose track of the beams' positions ! I forgot about that damn last ray ! NO ! I must be strong… I must… must…_

He felt like his energy was being gradually sucked out of him. And thus knew that he was slowly but surely weakening.

"SLOTH !" he called out, with a bit of difficulty, as if this was tiresome to some extent… while it usually never was !

The emoticlone joined him at last.

"Yes ?"

"I'm… I'm getting…weaker… by the…minute… You… you have to… fight him… on your… own… now…"

The cloaked teenager made a pout.

"Speedy, Speedy, Speedy… I honestly thought you could handle that good-for-nothing guy ! And that you wouldn't need my help ! But I guess that if you want something done, do it yourself, eh !"

The archer frowned with difficulty.

"Shut up… and fight… for a change…"

Sloth-E grumbled away and turned to the half dormouse-half human foe.

"What did you do to him ?"

A smooth smile stretched the mouth of the Keeper.

"He got hit by one of my lazy rays. As a result, he's experiencing sloth and won't feel the will to fight anymore. All that he'll be caring about is get some rest. So, as he said, it's all on your shoulders now."

The monster caught his breath.

"Jeez, those long sentences take so much energy…"

"I concur, for once. And now…"

Without any further speech, the emotion took off and started blasting away, her black spheres all hitting the "bull's eye" **(A/N : … but all of ya sure enough know that one, eh eh ! ;)**.

"You… you will regret… forcing me to fight !" yelled Sloth-K.

Sloth-E sniggered in response and kept firing her dark energy at her foe.

But she soon noticed that, although she could hurt her adversary, she couldn't harm him enough to make him die. It would take more to get rid of him. Maybe even _much_ more.

The grey girl let her arms down after a while of attacking and let her body sink to the ground.

Once her ankle boots came in contact with the ground, she quickly sat down, crisscross applesauce, and rested her hands over her knees.

The Keeper picked himself up and wobbled, weakened by the emotion's blows.

"What are you doing ? Already tired of fighting ?" he asked.

"Yes. I really feel exhausted. So no more struggles for me. I've had enough. I may start again when I feel less sleepy…" she replied.

Although he felt so tired himself, Speedy couldn't help react sharply to this unacceptable speech.

"Sloth, you're joking, right ?" His speech had regained more fluency and he no longer spaced out his utterances. "You must defeat Sloth… the _other _ Sloth ! You can't give up like that ! You see pretty well that I'm not in condition to battle him anymore !"

She shrugged.

"Too bad…"

"SLOTH !"

"I'm not fighting anymore."

"YOU CAN'T !"

"I can."

And a few seconds later, a dark sphere surrounded the brown-clad girl, to protect her from any attack of her evil homonym.

Hesitating between utter astonishment and wrath, the archer finally remained lost for words and chose to stop trying to convince his companion, who now had her eyes closed.

_Dammit ! Just what we needed : a resigning Titan ! But what can I do to force her back to the brawl ?_

He thought for a moment…

… and then his eyes lit up through his great fatigue.

Actually, there _**was**_ something he could do…

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

Raven stopped right in the middle of her deep thoughts.

Someone had just called her name. Inside of her head.

She closed her eyes and focused.

_Raven !_

There ! Someone was trying to contact her telepathically !

She imperceptibly frowned under the focus effort.

_Yes, here am I !_

_Raven, thank God you heard me ! I wasn't sure I could manage this telepathic communication thing ! First time I've ever tried it ! But happily I managed to get you ! _

The Goth's frown slightly became more marked. The Dark Titan tended to get upset when one started to beat about the bush, even to a smaller extent. But she resisted the will to urge her mental interlocutor and waited for the next part, ready to scold the other if he didn't get to the heart of the matter quickly.

_Anyway, this is Speedy ! I require your help urgently ! I'm with Sloth and we're battling against… hum, Sloth ! I mean, the Keeper called Sloth ! Yes, I know, pretty confusing, with two Sloth's in the picture ! But the point is that Sloth, your emotion, refuses to fight on ! She just sits there, cross-legged and eyes closed, claiming she's too tired to battle on._

Raven almost opened her eyes at this, but she held herself back, remembering that the telepathic bond would be broken if she opened them.

So she did her best to pull herself together and focus again to reply.

_You're saying that my emoticlone has given up ?_

_Yes, Raven. Exactly so. I tried to convince her, to no avail. Hence my contacting you now. Do you think you can convince her ?_

_I'll do my best, but I actually can't force my emotions to fight. Only use all kind of strategies to convince them, from persuasion to blackmail. Hopefully I don't have to use blackmail. But I'll talk to her and I'm confident she'll resume the fight._

_Thank you, Raven !_

_No problem. I'll now end this telepathic link and start a new one with Sloth. Courage, Speedy !_

_Thanks ! Same to you !_

_Thank you._

And with that… thought **(A/N : …and not "said"… ;)**, the Dark Titan closed the mental link and opened another one directed at her emotion.

_Sloth !_

No answer.

_Sloth !_

She was ready to call a third time when she got the desired reaction.

_Yes, Master !_

_Speedy let me know that you refuse to fight on !_

_Well, actually, Master…_

_I want you to go back and help Speedy defeat the Keeper !_

_Oh but I will, Master, don't worry about that !_

_Do it NOW !_

_In just a few minutes, Master._

_Why not now ?!_

_Because I haven't gathered enough energy right now._

_Enough energy ? What are you talking about ?_

_Well, you see, I told Speedy and Sloth – the Keeper – that I was too tired to continue the struggle. But it was all deceit. I wanted our enemy to believe I had given up. While in fact I NEVER actually intended to give up. Just stop the fight for a while and gather enough energy to launch a super attack that will destroy Sloth – still the Keeper – for sure. So there I stand, motionless and apparently resting, while I'm in fact gathering all my power to blast our foe in one single time for sure. It was a tactic of mine, but Speedy thought I __really__ had given up. Jeez, is such a long speech of mine that exhausting…!_

Raven pondered all the info she had just got from her emotion.

_Sloth, you're being just brilliant on this one ! Sorry if my tone was harsh before ! I couldn't guess all of this was a made-up of yours to deceive your enemy… But I congratulate you for such a clever plan ! You have all my support, in hope it will function alright and you'll be able to defeat the Keeper ! But I'm sure you will ! Well done again, Sloth !_

_Thank you, Master ! I'm happy that you feel proud of me !_

_Oh yes, I do !_

_Now, I think that my power is almost at its climax. I have to go, Master. Please excuse me and good luck on your side, Master !_

_Likewise, Sloth, likewise !_

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

The dormouse-headed being approached from Speedy, still wobbling a bit from the grey girl's attacks.

"Ah ah ah ! I think that I'm about to win ! I'm gonna kill you first then I'll take care of that other Sloth and make her see that there isn't enough room in this world for two Sloth's !"

The Masked Titan looked up at the huge body waiting before him. He still felt too weak, from the effect of the laziness's ray, to make a single move. His body wanted nothing else but sleep, and although part of his mind still clung to a hope of recovery, most of it already had surrendered to the terrible power of idleness.

"Sloth will defeat you ! I know she will !" he whispered.

But while he uttered this, he felt no less than dubious about the reality of such an event. Even _way_ dubious.

Sloth-K took a good look at Sloth-E and faced the archer again, a smirk on.

"Do you really think that this weak-willed girl here stands a chance against me ? She's even lazier than me ! I'm gonna find a way to destroy her protective bubble and bring her down !"

Speedy felt powerless in front of the Keeper. If only Raven could manage to convince her emotion to continue the combat…!

"So, got any last words before I send you to your ancestors, Arrow-Man ?"

"The Titans will win… We will get Fraktal and free the city… I know it…"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Right, these were your final words. Time to take your leave… forever !"

Speedy quickly glanced at Sloth-E, a last sparkle of hope in his eyes and heart. But she was still sitting in the same position.

Everything was lost.

He was going to die.

But at least, he would die after fighting, like true heroes do.

He would leave this life in honor, having tried his best.

The eyes closed under the mask.

Sloth-K put his hand right above the boy's head.

A gleaming grey orb formed within his palm and started to swell, getting slowly bigger and bigger.

"Goodbye, poor soul !" the Keeper sneered at the red-clad Titan.

"_AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"_

The monster's eyes widened in a flash.

"But what -"

And he turned around to watch the cloaked female.

His eyes met with three large black beams…

…and the next second, these had run through the massive body !

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH !" shouted the hybrid creature.

The rays grew larger, larger, always larger inside the stabbed organism, and the broader they became, the louder the huge foe bellowed.

Finally, the beams' sized augmented considerably in three seconds… and the Keeper screamed his last scream !

The evil body exploded in thousands of bits, which flew everywhere around the two Titans.

The Keeper Sloth had left the living world, for good !

Suddenly, Speedy felt his strength return. And his determination as well. Should he have had to battle right this minute, he would have been happy to.

The magic of idleness which had imprisoned his body and almost all of his mind had vanished, and the Masked Titan felt in great shape, like he usually was.

"I'm cured !"

Then he turned to the cloaked teen watching him with a smile.

"Sloth, you made it ! You vanquished the Keeper !"

The girl rubbed the back of her head, a nice smile curving her lips.

"Well yes, seems like I did. Sloth killed Sloth !"

She guffawed, and her red companion chuckled at this. That emoticlone may have irked him earlier, but all things considered, she was still a cool companion to walk along with.

Then the brown-clad one stopped and grew a serious face.

"Look, Speedy, sorry again for upsetting you earlier, when I made you believe that I had lost any will to fight. I knew that one of the best ways to defeat an enemy is to catch him by surprise, and given that my attacks weren't that efficient, I knew I had to gather my power to launch a super attack by surprise. And to do that, I had to concentrate a lot. Thus did I imagine the "giving up" excuse, for Sloth… the _other_ Sloth to swallow all of it and get convinced that I was "out of the picture". But that deceiving statement angered you, and for this, I apologize."

She hung her head, her purple eyes lingering on the damp ground of the fen.

But two hands landed on her shoulders, and as she lifted her head back up, her gaze met with the one hidden behind a mask.

"It's fine, really. You did it for the best, Sloth. Needless apologize. Rather, I must thank you and congratulate you again. Your plan was very clever. You're the hero here."

She turned her head away, sensing the heat on her cheeks.

"Th-thank you, Speedy, but you're the hero too. You also fought that creature."

He shook his head, touched by her blush.

"I did, but you did most of the job. The crucial part at least. So if one's to be a hero today, it's definitely you. You're the heroin, Sloth."

She felt the heat intensify on her face.

"Thanks…" she whispered, almost with difficulty.

She took her eyes back at him but stopped the motion short before they could actually arrive to his face, for they had caught glimpse of something in the background.

"Oh ! Look !"

The boy turned around and saw a green flame hovering right where Sloth had exploded.

"What's that thing ?" he asked.

"Not a clue…" she replied.

The flame rose in the miasma-filled sky and, when it reached a certain height, it stopped.

And parted in two.

The two parts then quickly floated away in antipodal directions.

But there was more : as soon as the two halves of the flames had disappeared, each in its own direction, a huge gust started to blow within the place.

The poisoned air started to whirl in unhealthy curls, faster and faster.

Then came an in-draught from the left and all the miasma was sucked away.

A bright light glared above the fens…

…and that was it.

When the two fighters reopened their eyes, they could see the sun shine all over the place. There no longer were miasma and half-light in there, just healthy air and sunlight.

And there actually no longer were marshes : they all had dried up, leaving only dirt where a filthy mix used to linger.

"It's all gone ! The poisoned air ! The darkness ! Even the stinky substance all around ! It's not swamps anymore !" exclaimed Speedy.

"That's because we have destroyed the Keeper. His nefarious power was holding that place in such a neglected state, reflection of his idleness. Now that the power has vanished, the place could… hum, "cure itself" and revert to its original state of healthiness."

The archer smirked.

"That's a pretty clever sentence you just uttered. And a pretty long one too."

A wink followed.

She chuckled.

"Tell me about it ! I feel so damn tired right now ! I guess I'll just levitate for the rest of the journey back to the Vault, for walking is so tiresome. And if we encounter another foe, I'll leave it to you this time. After all, isn't it your time to be the hero ?"

They both laughed out loud as they set out.

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

In this dark place, the seven coloured rings shone brighter than anywhere else. And the radiance of the light green portal wasn't any less bright.

But a new luminous source made its appearance : a small green flame appeared out of nowhere and floated gently up to the "rainbow barrier" circling the portal.

It then touched the most outer ring, which was green as well… and that ring slowly retracted, its length diminishing always more, until there was only a tiny space of green left at the top. Which finally disappeared as well.

The once eight-part coloured barrier had now become a six-part one, after the vanishing of the pink and the green barrier.

And if two of the protecting circles had been removed, why not more, in the near future ? Perhaps they could all be gotten rid of, one by one ? Why not, after all ?

And when they would all be gone, then… the portal would be accessible.

And if the portal could be entered, it meant that Fraktal could be reached.

It was possible.

It _**WAS**_ !

And someone started to realize it, although reluctantly.

_Well well well, could I have underestimated my enemies ? Already two of the Keepers down… They're doing pretty good, I must concede that. But they better not rejoice too soon, for the worst is still to come !_

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

The supermarket had been deserted. All the customers had left. And all this because of the sudden, totally unexpected idleness into which all the cashiers had dived.

But the strangest part of it all was that they all had experienced this utter laziness **simultaneously**. That was perhaps the most troubling fact.

The manager had shouted madly at all of them and withdrawn inside his office, trying to figure out how on Earth he could attract customers in his supermarket again.

That's when a small green flame entered the place and stopped close to the many cash desks where the cashiers lay, sleepy or sound asleep.

It hovered there for a while and suddenly something new took place.

From all the cashiers' bodies exited green rays and they all aimed at the green flame.

Then all those beams melted into the flame, which as a result started getting larger and larger, until it reached the size of a real fire.

At that moment, it started shining, which swiftly turned to a glare.

The cashiers shielded their eyes with their hands.

Eventually, the green inferno evaporated away, vanishing in a loud _WOOSH_ !

Silence followed this incredible event.

The cashiers slowly got up, rubbing their heads and exchanging surprised looks.

"What just happened ?"

"What was that ?"

"Where did that flame come from ?"

"Gee, I feel… in such a great shape !"

"Me too : full of energy !"

"Me as well ! I feel like working !"

"Ditto !"

The manager approached cautiously the cash desks.

"What just happened ? There were green rays coming out of your bodies ? Are you alright ? All of you ?"

The youngest of all his men replied to him.

"Yes, we sure are. And we apparently all feel in a great shape. Full of renewed energy. I personally haven't felt in a better condition for long." He looked around. "But where are the customers, Mr. Randall ?"

The manager sighed and answered in a tense voice.

"They all left. Because you all started refusing to work at the same time. There was an outcry and all left gradually. That's why the place is deserted now. But why did you do that ? How _could_ you ?!"

There was an awkward silence.

"Sir, we don't understand why we became that way, but rest assured that we will make it up to you : we will bring the customers back. We will find a way, even if it takes hours and hours to figure out which one. Isn't it, guys ?" proposed the eldest cashier, turning all around.

"Yeah, sure !"

"Definitely !"

"You can count on us !"

"Let's do it !"

The manager was at first astonished, as there was such a gap between the previously lazy fellows sprawled on the cash desks and the now extremely motivated same folks. But once his astonishment died down, he felt a smile be born on his lips.

"Thank you, all ! I don't know what happened, a curse or some short-term disease or whatever else, but one thing's for sure : we will "repair" it ! And while you help making advertisement and drawing customers' attention, I will make a broadcasted announce that the supermarket grants a 50% reduction on all articles for three days, next week ! That and public apologies, naturally ! I think we really owe this to our poor customers !"

There was a loud cheering, applause and all of them started to figure out the commercial strategy that would help them regain their clientele. **(A/N : oh, look, another word derived from French ! Unless it's the other way round : we derived it from English ? Or perhaps both were derived from Inuit language ? Or maybe… OK, OK, I shut up.)**

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/**

"Yes ? What ? Really ? Yes…yes… Oh, that's great news ! Yes. Thank you very much for this positive feedback ! Yes, you can get back to the office now. Thanks again, Barry !"

Superintendent Moser hung up and turned towards Lieutenant Heathfield.

"Victor, we have one less problem on our plate : the cashiers from HemBeeCee have got back to work. Mr. Randall, the manager, said that he would publicly apologize and make a half-reduction on the prices of all articles during three days, next week. Isn't that some great piece of news ?"

Heathfield grinned.

"Oh yes, Stewart ! That's indeed excellent stuff to hear ! One less thing to take care of !"

"Barry, who was on duty at the entrance of the supermarket, mentioned a green flame entering the place, then green rays coming out of the cashiers' bodies and sinking into that flame, which then grew bigger and bigger, until it disappeared. And that's when the cashiers stood up and claimed being "full of energy", like they "never had been". They proposed Mr. Randall to find a way to bring back the customers, and Randall imagined that three-day reduction as a mean to, say, "make it up" to the customers. So things are back in their natural order."

Heathfield let out a long sigh.

"I'm glad that already two problems are done with. And perhaps it will continue on that same track. What do you think, Stew' ?"

He gave his superior a knowing look, a smirk on his lips.

"I know what you mean, Vic' ! And yes, I have good hope that things will go on improving on and on, one by one."

And after a short break, he added :

"Didn't I tell you that the Titans were back in business ?"

The smile of Victor Heathfield imperceptibly grew bigger…

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

**Alleluiaaaaaaa !**

**Finished !**

**I had started on July 25th, this is now August 16****th**** ! Three weeks ! *****siiiiiiiiigh***

**Oh my God, I thought I would never come to an end wz this chappy. I wrote almost all of it at home… *****ponder for a few seconds*** **Well, actually, I really can't recall writing any of it at work, only at home, so perhaps I wrote the entirety of it at my place. That tells ya good enough how lil' time I had back at the airport. True that our daily operations were busy like hell, plus there were several sick people (bogus sicknesses – frauds - or real ones, I'm not too sure…), "vacationers" and in a general way, understaffing. Coz our dear employer is trying hard to spare money on employees' backs. "Nothing new under the sun", as they say, eh ! :(**

**Right. Enough complaining here !**

**I want to express my gratitude to still another user, not regarding this story here, but coz he favourited two of my MBC stories and added me as fav' author plus now follows me. 707cloud, if you're reading this, thanxxxx a lot for everything ! And presently for reading this new story here. Hope ya like it !**

**I do hope you guys all enjoyed this so-delayed chapter. I wanted to make the emoticlone Sloth fight against her homonym Sloth, the Keeper, just for confusion's sake. And I really liked the upset moment between Speedy and Sloth-E, at the beginning, and the touching moment at the end, wz her blushing (don't worry, she's not in love wz him, eh eh ! ;) )**

**Oh, and the supermarket's name, HemBeeCee, is a lil' pun of mine on MBC, my other favourite show (together wz TT). Yeah, humor and me, ya know…**

**So, let's see :**

**thanking Phantom of Runes & CuttieGirll57 for reviewing : check**

**scolding Blood-of-Silver & xxxsammiegirlxxx for ****non****-reviewing : check**

**exposing the reason of my delay for this chapter : check**

**welcoming 707cloud in my fans' circle : check**

**explaining about the HemBeeCee pun : check**

**checking that I did everything : check**

**I'm also happy coz on Cartoon Network, they broadcasted one of my top TT episodes this afternoon : BIRTHMARK. So awesome ! Go Raven !**

**And that's about it. I honestly can't promise any date for next update (hey, it rhymes ! =), seeing how busy I am almost everyday. But be sure I'll do my best to write as much as I can at home and as much as I can in my spare time at work.**

**Last, thanxxxx to BoS, Ziandra, FlaringFriendlyLover for their update. I wish my dear BeachBabe123, one of my top fav' writers, would imitate them…**

**Right, 8'747 words are enough, aren't they ? Stopping here, then.**

**Take care of ya and try to beat me at updating ! (nothing difficult, really… XD)**

**Bye 4 now !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**(Lake Agápi)**


	10. Minotaur

**Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos !**

**Ok, today is August 18****th**** as I'm starting this chapter. We'll see how much time it'll take for this new part to be completed. I hope you'll remain merciful with me, as I'm doing **_**all**_** I can to write **_**whenever**_** I can. Fingers crossed for a faster update this time !**

**Now ranting a bit again. Against my telephone operator, this time. Why's that ? These guys sent me a brand new router, to enable a faster internet connection. Cool, except that, it didn't work. Not only did the router refuse to function correctly, but it also suppressed the landline connection (eh yes, folks : my router isn't wireless, it's actually connected to the telephone fixed line, or landline…). Result : unable to receive or make calls from my home phone. Consequence of all this : 10 days wzout the Net ! Which means : 10 days wzout any story writing ! And given that my work's operational activities remain that overloaded, I can only go on writing this… at home ! I was so cross wz all that ! =(((**

**Now…**

**Thanxxxx to the maxxxx to Blood-of-Silver… sorry : ****Ruby-of-Red**** from now on, and xsammiegirlx for their kind reviews ! And to both for being that addicted to my story ! (I mean, come on, Sam let me know she ****adores**** it, and Ana/RoR reviewed even from HAWAÏ, so… flattering, uh ?) All my gratitude to ya both, great fans ! But naturally also to all those reading, even if (alas…) not reviewing as well ! **

**So, another chapter, right ? Here it is, served hot, crispy, tasty and blahblahblah… XD**

**And joy !**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

"**The Minotaur, ****being the unnatural offspring of man and beast, had no natural source of nourishment and thus devoured man for sustenance." - Wikipedia**

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

**8.9**** */*/*/* ****MINOTAUR**** */*/*/* ****8.9**

***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/ */*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***

Raven looked all around her, and all around she could see water.

_I've arrived on an island._

Her purple eyes scanned her surroundings, narrowed in an analytic attitude.

There was really little vegetation in that place, just a few bushes here and there, and just as "many" trees.

Apart from those plants, nothing else seemed to live here, no human, no animal.

Or no… "creature".

Another hostile land, like the one she had crossed on her way to Griffin.

Now was the time to find the third Guardian, battle him… and defeat him !

The current problem was locating that monster.

Raven closed her eyes and let her extrasensory powers extend around her and probe the land, in search of the negative energy of this domain's owner.

It took little time before the sorceress sensed an evil energy source somewhere in direction of the northeast.

The Azarathian opened her eyes and turned them towards the rocky hill nearby, frowning.

_I know you are over there, Guardian. And I will find you._

She set off for the new battle awaiting her not that far away.

And just like the two previous times she had been walking to the area's evil lord, she let her mind wander a tad, although she remained alert, eyes glancing at the landscape and extrasensory powers still probing the surroundings nevertheless.

She had felt a terrible suffering before. It had all started with a moral, emotional suffering, but by some psychosomatic effect, it had induced a physical one, her chest aching from an acute pain and her throat turning sore from swelling, as she had done her best to repress her tears.

This had forced her to meditate. Indeed, meditation always brought her solace, helped her regain her inner balance, allowed her to deal with Life's hardships.

But even after getting out of her trance, she wasn't feeling completely well. Better, yes, but not fully okay.

And then Robin had communicated with her via mental link and had found the right words to definitely lift the remaining weight off her chest.

He had brought her that comfort and support she badly needed.

His intervention had spared her much foreseeable pain and pulled her lowering spirits up again, perhaps not in their highest position, but still high enough. And not only had this induced her pulling herself together , but also made her feel the vibrant power of one of the most powerful feeling on the sensibility's range.

And for both, she was incredibly grateful to Robin, her leader.

Yes, _**her**_ leader…..

That thought brought heat all over her grey face and she couldn't help but stop and close her eyes for a few seconds. Just time for her to inhale and exhale slower, slooooower, in order to calm down the speedy pace of her heartbeats, swallow her saliva and allow her face to cool down.

_My mind may be trying to avoid accepting the truth, or at least delaying it to some extent, but my body can't do the same, and my feelings make themselves known immediately inside my organism. There's no physical cheating with feelings and emotions !_

And along with the latter came the sensations. The heat, the sweat (clammy hands, among others), the swallowing of saliva, the hasty breathing, the soaring heart rate and this incredible, almost magical lightness. Lightness of heart, lightness of mind, but also lightness of soul itself.

Yes, there definitely, undoubtedly was a part of _**magic**_ in all this !

The young sorceress reopened her eyes and, after a long sigh, she let the smile slowly fade away from her features and finally resumed walking.

She hadn't walked thirty steps when she heard a "liquid sound" on her left. She therefore turned her violet orbs in that direction and saw a tapered shape moving across the warm air… and coming in her direction !

The Dark Titan narrowed her eyes, focusing her sight on the newly appeared creature, in an effort to try and identify it with precision.

And she soon managed to recognize it.

_An exocet !_

**(A/N : if you look for "exocet" in English, you'll most likely come across… a missile ! But in French, that word refers to two very different things : that same missile… and a flying fish from the hot seas ! It's called flying fish because of its overdeveloped pectoral fins, which enable the fish to jump out of the water and glide for a moment in the air ! So the English translation of French's "exocet" would be : "flying fish", therefore should I use that expression here… but ya know how hard-headed and incorrigibly original I remain =D, so I'm gonna opt for "exocet" in English as well ! All the more since that flying fish approaching Raven actually foretells of danger… just like the missile also known under that same name "exocet" ! Caught everything of what I just said, Mates ? ;)**

And sure enough, the thin being getting closer from above was a flying fish, more precisely the specie known under the name "exocet".

The animal then swiftly dived towards Rae and soon hit her head, where it frenetically jerked, in a wild attempt to free itself and to return to its dear water.

Raven got a hold of the aquatic beast, which she had thought of sending back to its origin in a dark energy bubble… when she stopped moving, as soon as she had it before her eyes.

A shiver shook her spine, as she stared in horror at the fish.

Instead of the two globular eyes she was expecting, there was only one. And it consisted of a green sphere.

Like Fraktal's unique eye.

_It's another of his mutant beasts ! And if it jumped on my head, it was to attac-_

"Aaaah !"

The exocet had unexpectedly bitten her !

After letting out a cry of pain, Raven opened her hand at once and looked at the tiny wound, while the flying fish gently hit the ground, where it lay squirming, mouth incessantly opening and closing, desperately seeking water.

The grey skin bore a clear mark of a deep bite, which made the teen's eyes widen in surprise.

_But how come a fish can bite ? Big fishes have teeth, but small ones…? And it got me pretty deeply, when it attacked ! How is that possible ? But then again, if this is a mutant, no wonder it has features that normal fishes wouldn't have…_

The sorceress, although still focused on the wound, nonetheless could perceive another sound similar to the one which had announced the exocet's jump out of the water. And because of this similitude, she quickly shot her head up, certain of what she'd spot.

And it was exactly what she had expected : another flying fish had come out and was rapidly heading towards her.

Thinking fast, she acted just as fast : raising her hand above her head, palm directed at the new enemy, she summoned up energy in it. A black ball immediately appeared around the hand, then was launched off it, reaching the exocet and encasing it in a dark prison. Another motion of Raven, hand brought down, made the black sphere sink to the water, where it released the aquatic creature.

But busy as she was with this, the Azarathian hadn't noticed another noise originating from behind…

She only understood what was taking place when she felt a thin body land right on her shoulder.

The grey girl jerked her head to the side in a whoosh of violet hair, and sure enough another mutant fish was twitching on her right shoulder.

But before she could actually start any defending action, she experienced an acute pain in her flesh.

Another bite.

She felt anger start to rise within her and frowned hard, uncovering her gritted teeth, as she imprisoned the foe inside a new dark sphere that she cast away.

But no sooner was that second menace warded off than another was on its way, in the form of another splashing sound, from still another direction.

The cloaked teenager rapidly turned around and immediately stretched her arm in the direction where she knew would be a third exocet, aiming at her.

A few seconds later, the flying fish was neutralized and sent backwards in a dark spherical prison.

Yet this new defensive success, which this time even averted her a supplementary wound, alas coincided with the trigger of an alarming onset.

Indeed, as the third foe was cast away, several noises of splashing water originated all around the female wizard… **simultaneously** !

Raven looked to the right, to the front, to the left… and her eyes grew wide as she spotted the numerous flying fishes all gliding to her at almost the same time !

_No !_

But there was no time for fear. Action only mattered. That was the unique thing to consider.

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS !"

Innumerable balls of dark energy gushed from the grey body and quickly shot off, each of these countless small prisons locking a foe at some point.

A minute later, as Raven had motioned for all the spheres to fly far away (since bringing the exocets back into the water was only enabling them to launch a new attack, jumping again out of the water they had just been replaced into…), to definitely get rid of her enemies, a great many "liquid sounds" found their way to Rae's ears.

_They keep on appearing again and again. Imprisoning them and sending them away seems of no efficiency. I must change strategy. Which one could I adopt ? Let's see… these are flying fishes from the hot seas… wait… maybe… But yes, of course ! It's worth trying ! There is a good chance it might actually work !_

The Goth started by protecting herself in a larger energy bubble.

Then her eyes turned white as she chanted aloud, using a spell she hadn't resorted to in a long time.

No sooner had she ended her reciting ancient Azarathian words that some polar cold suddenly invaded the area.

Rae's eyes glowed on the same dazzling white, her cape fluttering about behind her as she kept her arms slightly bent, palms open to the front.

The exocets all fell to the floor, making it seem as if a new kind of rain had been created : a fish rain. **(A/N : yeaaaaaaaaah… I know, I know… ^^'')**

And soon enough, the ground of the island was strewn with the dying corpses of dozens and dozens of one-eyed flying fishes.

It took a few minutes for everything to come to its fatal end, but it finally happened. Freezing those fishes from the hot seas had been the right parry.

Raven's arms slowly sank back to her side, her eyes lost their white glare, her cape fell back behind her and her protective sphere vanished.

The Cloaked Titan took a few minutes to heal the tiny wounds left by the mutant creatures, then she meticulously inspected her surroundings, her eyes narrowed in an effort to single out anything peculiar, visible or audible.

But she couldn't pick up anything perilous.

The first menace had been successfully dealt with.

But now was the time for the second menace. The most dangerous one.

The Guardian !

Taking her violet eyes back to the direction in which she had been heading to, her extrasensory powers hinting her that it was over there that the Guardian dwelt, Raven focused all her attention towards that distant place and resumed her walk to the third fight of the Subterraneas.

It wasn't long until she spotted a stone building on top of the hill she was climbing up. She could have focused her senses in order to find out if the main enemy of the area was based in there, but she didn't : the foreboding haunting her mind made her certain that he indeed was.

The girl came to a halt as she was facing the entrance of the mysterious construction - a construction which was actually fairly large for a building… - and let her violet eyes dive straight in the darkness reigning within.

It wasn't exactly pitch black, but for sure it was dark enough to make it quite tricky to find one's way inside.

But naturally, this didn't make the most powerful of all Titans hesitate, not even the slightest.

Instead, she recited a short spell and a small flame appeared above her, and as she stepped forward, the flame shortly preceded her ahead, lighting up the path for her.

Thus, with resolution inhabiting her mind and body, the Dark Titan walked into the mineral structure at a steady and decided pace.

Silence.

Everywhere.

Not even the faintest sound rising from the depths of the unknown building.

Raven knew, better than anybody in the team, what menaces silence could hold in its enigmatic embrace. A loud noise can easily give away the origin and nature of it, and enable one to go at its source. Thus is an enemy producing noise fairly vulnerable to any attack, as it can be pinpointed without too much difficulty and therefore fought. But one which remains calm, motionless, and settles for a soundless strategy is much trickier to either find or drive out of its lair.

And therefore much more dangerous…

As she followed a long corridor, the half-demon noticed that the temperature was significantly higher in this place. The atmosphere definitely proved oppressive in this dark place. This added to one's unease… yet Raven was certainly not the type to let the context trouble her ! She was seldom impressed by threatening elements, her usual emotionless side making her almost immune to danger.

After minutes of progression in complete silence, Raven arrived at a crossroad. Three choices : onwards, left, right. The result of her inner focus hinted to the right path, therefore did she go in that direction.

As she continued, a new element surfaced in the dead atmosphere : stench. At first discreet, the reek amplified to become really marked.

The Azarathian wrinkled her nose in an attempt to identify the exact nature of that smell. It was made more difficult, as there seemed to be a quite complex odour pattern… as if two distinct elements composed that stench.

Raven stopped at a new crossroad and understood in what kind of place she was evolving : a maze. She had guessed it upon coming to the first intersection, but this new one indisputably confirmed this first impression.

The pong stemming from the depths of the labyrinth was now way stronger, and the violet-haired teen thus grew certain that she was really close from the origin of the foulness.

She walked straight on and turned right a little further… and she discovered the horrible source of the stink !

There, in a corner, lay a large heap of corpses, covered in a layer of blood !

This mass grave was a particularly horrid find, but there was a specific factor that made it awfully hair-rising : not only had the persons been slain, but their bodies had been _**shred**_ ! Indeed, the girl could see bowels hanging from several places and distinctly spotted some large crevices from top to bottom of abdomens.

The creature who had ripped apart bodies with such force, such savagery was a most powerful one. This meant that the Guardian of this world had, as main characteristic, some incredible strength. Some _inhuman_ strength.

But while this was bad news, foreshadowing of a particularly tough fight, it also implied some positive deduction : that is, the Guardian wasn't a very clever being. Indeed, experience showed that a monster which was tremendously strong was on the contrary of poor intelligence, while creatures of puny aspect could hide a particularly developed smartness. So while her enemy would be a formidable adversary, he would probably lack precision or be predictable in his blows, perhaps even be somewhat slow if of really huge weight… and that would be a trump for the sorceress, who could then strike with a surprise attack !

Something else was slightly bothering Raven : the reek of the decaying corpses didn't fully match with the pong she had perceived earlier. The previous odour was… slightly different ! More complex, with another smell mixed in. This place only hosted one of the two stinks. Where did the other one come from, then…?

As she cautiously went on through the cursed maze, Raven suddenly came up with an idea regarding the identity of the Guardian. A maze… slaughtered humans… and a mysterious odour which haunted the place… which, now that she inhaled deeper, really seemed to be of _animal_ origin…

An animal in a maze…

Yes, that definitely confirmed what she had in mind regarding her enemy.

_I know who you are, Guardian. What you look like. And I'll put an end to your numerous massacres. Be sure of that._

And suddenly, it occurred.

Finally a sound.

A powerful sound… but a muffled one. As if something was acting as a screen between the source of the noise and the grey girl.

The sound was regular… and growing closer !

Raven stopped in the middle of an intersection and pricked up her ears.

Something was moving in there. Somewhere from the inmost part of this horrible maze, something had arrived and was now creeping its way in her direction.

Slowly.

Ruthlessly.

Endlessly.

The predator making that noise was lurking behind one of the walls that surrounded the empath… looking for the right path in this immense labyrinth… the right path to the **prey**…

The muffled noise had turned into a din, and that meant only one thing : that the menacing being producing it was now really close. But it was still impossible to predict from which side it would arrive, as the rumpus seemed to echo throughout the maze and make it sound as if it originated from everywhere at the same time !

Raven was about to use her extrasensory powers to determine the location of the foe, and thus the direction from which he would loom…

…when a massive outline suddenly showed up from the path Raven was giving her back to !

The half-demon immediately sensed the new presence and turned around to face her foeman.

And there he was : an enormous bull standing upright, but with human hands. His skin, or rather his fur, was totally black from head to toes.

From his muzzle hung a trickle of saliva, and his tail was swooshing in rapid and curt moves, as if it was impatient to whip the adversary.

The huge being came to a halt, not that far from Raven actually, and his feverish eyes settled on the intruder, staring malevolently at her.

There was a long moment of silence, as the reciprocal looks enabled each other to take in all outer details about the opponent's anatomy, height and apparent strength.

An uneasy, anguishing silence, which seemed to stretch on and on.

The short while of silence preceding the outburst…

After what seemed an eternity, a voice made itself heard in the stony intricacy of the place.

"Who is foolish enough to venture on her own into the Minotaur's lair ?" rumbled a thunderous voice.

The empath didn't flinch at the terribly loud sound echoing endlessly inside the menacing maze. Rather, she stared the monster down, eyes narrowed and frowning.

"I'm not foolish, but determined, yes. And you don't scare me, Minotaur. I've come to defeat you and take your aura to unlock one of the Keepers' protective barrier."

She managed a short pause, to give full strength to her next utterance.

"And nothing you can do will make me fail, ever."

The Cloaked Titan could have sworn that the beast's eyes had slightly widened at this surprising, quite unexpected claim. Pretty surprising indeed for a frail young girl facing such a frightening enemy to say something so provocative, so self-confident.

But this didn't last and the Guardian soon sneered at her.

"Ah ah, I must say that I've never seen a female behaving in such a challenging way. Some troops of men armed to the teeth have come here and they didn't even show an ounce of self-confidence, so seeing you act in such an inconsiderate way… Yes, I must admit that you've got courage, young human. But that won't be sufficient to beat me. I've always won. Always. And this time will be no exception."

Raven's cold glare intensified as she replied.

"It will be."

This time, the Minotaur burst out laughing, his deafening laughter reverberating on the walls, which prolonged that great noise for seconds and seconds. But again, the Azarathian didn't jump the slightest at this and merely remained motionless opposite the huge animal, nothing changing even in her facial expression.

"And what makes you think so, you reckless fool ?"

"I'm way more powerful than all those armed men you mentioned. They had human weapons, but I have magic. Dark magic, the most terrible one. And also, I have crushed enemies far stronger than you, so don't imagine I'll be afraid or you or doubt on my chances."

The Minotaur pondered this for a few seconds. After all, a wizard possessing dark magic wasn't one to be taken "lightly"… even if it remained, after all, nothing but a frail young female !

The Guardian finally found his words again.

"I see. That will certainly make the fight more interesting. But I'll make sure to win and kill you, no matter what it takes."

As an answer, Raven merely shouted the two words implying the start of the struggle : "_En garde !_"

The massive hybrid launched its muscular body towards the slender teenager.

A enormous fist aimed at the grey face, but the attack wasn't swift enough to hit its target : the magical girl floated away just seconds before the impact and reached the opposite corridor.

The Guardian turned around and ran again in her direction, projecting his fist forward for a second attempt. But just like before, the sorceress avoided the violent blow and flew above the enormous being, positioning herself at the far end of the passageway she had first been in.

The Minotaur lifted one of his legs and brutally stamped the stone alley, which produced an impressive shaking throughout the structure. It was so powerful that it reminded some tremor, no less.

Raven didn't flinch at this, even after another similar stamping. But she nevertheless paid attention when she saw a descending dust cloud suddenly appear before her, and briskly jerked her head up to check if any part of the ceiling was about to break down on her.

Although she acted very quick, the black monster still chose that short moment to throw himself at her.

Yet this abrupt attack still couldn't take the half-demon by surprise : first because she remained on her guard despite her attention being very briefly drawn somewhere else, and second because the distance she had put between him and her enabled her to anticipate any assault, even a sneaky one. Remaining far away from an opponent definitely was a strategic asset.

And that's why, when the Minotaur cast his horned head at her, Raven could still avoid the most dangerous hit. She didn't fly over him this time, preferring moving backwards in the corridor as she turned the corner and disappeared from his field of vision.

This triggered an energetic reaction from the aggressive bull : he let out a really loud mooing, in which frustration mixed with utter wrath, and launched himself into a breathless pursuit to catch that frail human who dodged all his attacks so easily, unlike all humans he had slaughtered.

Raven saw the peril of the situation, with the ginormous creature racing after her through the stunk-up labyrinth. And she therefore kept glancing behind her while she flew away from him, uselessly trying to outdistance him… but worryingly realizing that he was rather gaining than losing ground on her !

Suddenly, Raven had to briskly stop… as she had almost been crashing into a wall, immediately after turning a corner ! Her escape had unfortunately led her to a dead end !

The Cloaked Titan opened her mouth as her body immediately came to a halt, and she hurried to turn around, ready to face the monster once again… but she had slightly underestimated both the decrease of the distance between them during the course of the run AND the increase of his speed in the last seconds.

And this error in judgment, although apparently minimal, alas proved fatal !

The gigantic hand got a hold of the blue fabric covering the female chest and lifted up the frail human in a flash, before slamming that thin body as hard as could be on the stone floor.

Raven would probably have had her skull crushed, given the force of the impact, hadn't she had the presence of mind of covering her body in black energy at the very last second of the impact. The Minotaur had barely left her time to act, but the clever girl that she was had enough quickness of reaction to protect herself right before getting smashed to the cold stone of the maze.

Yet that still was a close one… even **very** close one !

The monstrous foe had noticed the black halo wrapping the teen's body, and this apparently drove him totally crazy !

He energetically lifted up the human again and chucked her once more to the floor, with maximal violence.

But it didn't end up so early : the Guardian repeated the same frantic movement many times, shattering the Titan's body harder and harder on the floor.

Wouldn't it have been for her dark energy protecting herself, Raven would have gone to seed a while ago, as her organism would have turned in nothing but pulp, streaked with blood everywhere. Her rapidity in summoning her own powers around her had saved her from an incredibly brutal death, given the relentlessness of the monster's beating-up.

Her protective strategy had worked, and the Minotaur was so absorbed in his utterly savage attack that he hadn't noticed that, despite her closed eyes, the Goth was still alive. But this didn't provide a way to escape the powerful grasp of the Guardian : protection yes, release no. She had to figure out a mean of freeing, and quick.

As if on cue, the occasion suddenly arose : the massive animal dropped the slender human to the cold hard floor after a umpteenth slamming. And he remained there, panting incredibly loud and "thick", standing all sweaty in front of what he thought was a corpse.

Well, at least, _that's_ what he thought… _at first_ ! But even this awfully primary being would soon realize that something was off there.

Sure, this young fool was lying completely motionless, eyes closed, on the terribly crackled surface of the labyrinth's floor. This naturally looked like she had left this world, and what more logical, after the way he had beaten her mercilessly on the mineral area.

But how come her body was still intact after the harsh treatment undergone ? Her skull at least should have been smashed open, being from all the body parts one of the most fragile ones… and yet it didn't look damaged at all, since there were no skull fragments on the floor, by the corpse ! (or what _looked_ like a corpse…)

Even more surprising was the complete absence of blood ! After all the repeated shocks against the stone, not a single red drop around ? Nothing at all ?

Therefore, while that young human should have been dead by now, there was absolutely NO proof of decease whatsoever. Only immobility and closed eyes. But where these unquestionable elements confirming death ?

The Minotaur hesitated.

That girl should have been lying in a pool of blood, and yet…

…yet…

All of a sudden, right before the Guardian's incredulous eyes, the blue-clad body turned into a huge black bird.

A raven or something very similar, it seemed.

And that gigantic shadow-like bird took off and flew right through the wall of the dead end.

Now that was something ! Something… new ! No such thing had happened with any previous adversary ! But after all, no previous adversary could float neither…

That girl definitely wasn't simply human.

There was something more about her…

The Minotaur finally decided to leave, thinking that what had happened perhaps meant that the human was really dead, and that her spirit had taken off to the "other world". Perhaps that this curious cloaked person had some powers which made her death look "normal" – i.e. without visible blood spill or wounds – and then made her soul leave in the shape of a big bird.

He therefore turned around… and came face to face with that strange girl ! She was standing right before him, but still distant from him, looking in perfect shape, not even hurt or anything.

"You ? But… how could you fail to die ? I beat you to death and you don't even have a scratch ! And how did you end up behind me while I saw your body disappear through that wall seconds ago ? How is that possible ?" he screamed.

"Perhaps I'm not just _any_ random human, but possess some special abilities. And that these prevented me to pass away."

She managed a very short break before continuing, her eyes imperceptibly narrowing.

"Perhaps that you underestimated me, after all…"

A smirk found its way to her lips.

"And perhaps I'll end up defeating you for good" she calmly concluded.

The fury was growing inside the Minotaur. And fast.

"Perhaps. And perhaps NO !" He shouted the last words, his eyes freezing in a deadly stare.

He threw his huge frame at her, but she had anticipated that hackneyed assault and produced dark rays from her hands. These hit the foe with strength and made him collapse backwards.

The Guardian got up, incredulity plastered on his features. Nobody had ever managed to make him fall. _**Nobody !**_ And this frail female had succeeded without effort !

Wrath briskly clouded up his mind in a flash.

"No one has ever won against me. And no one has ever left my domain… alive ! Don't think you'll be the first one !" he shouted menacingly.

A slight smirk reappeared on Raven's mouth.

"There's a first time to everything…" she quietly explained, in a cold and somewhat ironic tone.

The hellish beast let out an extremely loud and deep moo, foam dripping from his muzzle, eyes goggling to the limit. His whole attitude denoted an utter fury raging inside the tremendous body.

"I'll make you pay ! And I won't kill you when I'm through with you : rather, I'll eat you alive, so that you'll suffer like you've never suffered before !"

And without letting her the time to reply, the monstrous enemy took off.

The cloaked one cast a huge bolt of dark energy, which met the Guardian's head and blasted him off, throwing him harshly against the wall. The latter gained several cracks, menacing to shatter down in rubble.

The Minotaur stopped moving and remained there, on the cold, solid ground, his chest rising and sinking speedily. His head was positioned the furthest away from Raven.

The Dark Titan observed her adversary, her eyes still narrowed at him. She may have given him a pretty bad blow, and perhaps even weakened him, but that was no reason to let the concentration level dwindle.

The Guardian rolled on the side and ended up on his stomach, then got on all four, giving her his behind. He obviously was trying to recover from the previous shock.

She watched as he slowly got up, keeping his back at her.

He was now upright and looking in the opposite direction, as if he obstinately refused to turn around and watch her.

The Azarathian frowned at such an unusual behavior. It really was uncommon for a foe to fail facing the adversary and remain "back-turned" that way…

The monster remained there for long long seconds, absolutely motionless, as if he was thinking hard or staring intently at something on the opposite wall.

_What's the matter with him ?_

Suddenly, he jerked his head towards her… and a large beam of light left his head and rushed to her !

The pale sorceress was stunned by the sudden attack and quickly raised her hands to create a dark shield… but it was just a second too late !

The powerful ray hit the Titan, who violently collapsed backwards.

What had happened was that the two horns of the bull had produced a small shiny globe, linked to both of them by tiny filaments of light. That gleaming sphere had been floating in the middle of the creature's forehead, and when the Guardian had turned around, the sphere had released a powerful beam towards the grey girl.

And alas for her, her astonishment at this unexpected and most swift attack had prevented her from protecting herself quickly enough !

Raven scrambled to get up, but unfortunately got hit by another ray the Minotaur had prepared immediately after releasing the first one. She tumbled to the floor again, the renewed pain horribly shooting through her whole body.

And the Guardian was already preparing his third attack, stepping forward as the next beam's power was rising rapidly within the bright sphere created by the energy stemming from the horns !

The ray rushed to the empath… but met with a black shield at the last second !

Raven was leaning on her elbow, her arm stretched out, hand holding up the dark barrier. On her face was a wince of pain : she had managed to create a protection screen rapidly enough to avoid another powerful blast from her opponent, but clearly hadn't recovered from the awful blow that had it right before.

"Brave little female human !" yelled the enormous enemy. "But you're only delaying your death ! Just gaining a few more minutes of respite ! It still won't be enough to beat me !"

The Dark Titan was wincing, fighting to overcome her pain, her teeth gritted almost painfully now and eyebrows frowning so hard that it was on the verge of hurting as well.

"You won't win… Minotaur… I swear… you won't ! Trust me…"

The bull roared in laughter.

"Ah ah ah, look at yourself : laboriously gathering enough energy to block my beam ! You're so weak now ! How can you seriously hope to stand a chance against me ?"

He sneered as he pronounced the last part.

Raven closed her eyes and suddenly ceased frowning, and even stopped wincing, her mouth and jaw abruptly relaxed. All this happened extremely quickly.

The empath's face now wore a very focused expression, almost a serene one… an impressive contrast to her painful grimace just one minute earlier !

And she answered the question the Minotaur had asked her short ago :

"Like **THIS** !"

Her eyes reopened briskly and the Guardian immediately knew that something was up with that girl : her normal gaze no longer showed, and in its place were two dazzling orbs gleaming intensely in the darkness of the maze. Also, her hair was floating up, moving rapidly about as if blown by some breeze… although there was none in this stifling place !

The Minotaur hesitated between launching another attack and waiting to find out what that pale human had in store. He finally chose the second option.

And the next moment, he found out, as Raven opened her mouth and screamed, on top of her lungs :

"**AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"**

There was a tremendous racket on the left and right of the Minotaur, who turned his head quickly to both directions… and widened his eyes !

The next second, two walls, wrapped in black energy, violently smashed together on both sides of the Guardian. They had been removed from their original spot by Raven and cast at her enemy with full force !

The massive being didn't get knocked out but staggered forward with difficulty, taking short, heavy steps. A foe of lesser strength would have collapsed, at least unconscious, if not dead, but the Minotaur was too powerful to be taken down yet, despite the intensity of the impact.

But the half-demon didn't leave him time to recover from the terrible shock and…

"**AZARATH, METRION, ZINTHOS !"**

Two other walls were extracted from their places and, following Rae's swift movement in direction of the bull, crashed with extreme violence against the black body.

This time, the master of the maze couldn't resist the collision and tumbled heavily to the ground, not having fully understood what the heck was happening with those walls.

Raven knew that it used to be in the rules of a fight to not attack an adversary while he/she was lying on the floor, but that one had to wait for the opponent to be back up on his/her feet to pursue the fight. She respected this, but on the other hand, enemies of such might as the Guardians and the Keepers had to be eliminated as soon as possible, without giving them the chance to gather their powers again and risk being killed from their mighty attacks.

Considering this, she was aware of the risk of letting the Minotaur stand back up, and that's why she decided that it should not be so… and that this monstrous creature had to be gotten rid of quickly, while he was still unable to struggle !

Therefore, she kept reciting her mantra, times and times again, and motioning for always more and more walls to pile up over the bull's body, each one slamming down brutally on the top of the mineral heap before shattering to pieces.

The incredibly loud din stretched on and on as each wall added to the rubble imprisoning the Guardian's powerful organism, making it always more unlikely for the great monster to crawl out from under the huge heap of stone.

Raven finally brought it all to an end. Her eyes stopped glowing white and resumed their usual purple colour. Her hair fell back to its original position. And the girl lowered her arms.

A great part of the maze was completely destroyed, no wall still standing in that area and the ceiling slabs also smashed to bits, down on the floor.

The sorceress's eyes were glued to the very high heap of boulders which had become the tombstone of the Minotaur. She had an inkling he was indeed dead, but wasn't fully convinced of his demise.

A piece of stone fell from the top of the pile.

Then another one.

And another one.

The Titan's eyes narrowed, her body all tense, focused to the extreme.

More fragments were now moving at the very top, always more, until…

The grey girl sighed and relaxed as she saw the blue shape-changing blob emerge from the rubble and levitate quietly above the massive heap which had caused its owner's death.

Rae stretched her arms towards the aura and made a swift movement to the left.

The blob obediently started for that direction, and in no time it was out of sight.

_I've done it, once again ! I've defeated another Guardian ! He wanted to eat me alive, but I showed him who was the most powerful ! And now, a third Keeper will be weakened and likely defeated by my friends and my emotions. We're progressing, step by step. It takes time and energy, but it works !_

A weak smile appeared on her lips and lit up her features.

She wearily floated out of the maze through the gigantic hole made in the ceiling and headed for a mound where a tree was growing.

The Azarathian leaned against the tree and slowly sank to the floor. She ended up sitting, and crossed her legs, adopting the lotus position. Thumbs got crossed with forefingers, eyes got closed, breath got slowed down, mind got focused, and with a last thought for Robin, whom she hoped was fine, she started healing herself…

**/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\ _/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ \_/\_/\**

**Oh-my-gosh !**

**Am I dreaming or am I not ?**

**Is this September 19****th**** ? And hadn't I started this chapter on August 18****th**** ? **

**Therefore, it took me ONE MONTH to complete this ! No joke, Buddies !**

**But since the extreme business of the airport these past days, it doesn't surprise me : I haven't had much time to write and therefore often had to postpone the pursuing of this story ! Plus there was that router worry which cancelled 10 days of potential work ! Sorry again, Mates !**

**Hoped ya liked this chappy here. The Minotaur's death was pretty impressive, I think, wz all those walls slamming against him and burying him alive until he couldn't bear it anymore. But it had to take that to destroy that powerful and colossal being right ?**

**My kind thoughts fly to Colorado, where the floods have caused such an awful devastation and made many casualties. I grieve along wz the family of the disappeared ones. And yes, the weather can be THAT cruel, alas…**

**Still in the US, I heard that Ariel Castro, hung himself in his cell. He was the man who had kept imprisoned and raped three young girls for TEN years, in Cleveland ! That man was a monster and I'm glad he's gone ! Another piece of shit swept off ! Good riddance !**

**Thank ya Ruby-of-Red (formerly known as Blood-of-Silver) for the update on THE LASER TAG GAME, and yr shout-outs to me ! :D**

**Thanxxxx also to theAnGerFlarE and The Flamekeeper for their wonderful stories, especially ENCHANT by the latter : excellent fiction !**

**Last, the most alert of ya may have noticed I've changed the title of my first chappy : FOREWORD turned into DAWNING. Why's that ? Well, see, I often used FOREWORD and AFTERWORD as titles for my first and last chapters, and I just felt like changing that routine. So, goodbye FORWORD, hello DAWNING… and the last chapter will not be titled AFTERWORD neither, this time ! Isn't a bit of change advantageous, every now and then ? 8)**

**Alright, that's all, Folks ! This one's over, and stay tuned for the next one… whenever that'll be ! ;P**

**Hugs to ya all !**

**Peace, Love, Ecstasy !**

**(The… Exocet)**

**XXXX**


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